Football management is ultimately a game of numbers, and every metric for Ruben Amorim at Manchester United is flashing red.
The formula for success in football has always been straightforward: more wins than losses, more goals than conceded, and more right decisions than mistakes. Yet the Portuguese coach has comprehensively failed on all three fronts – perhaps because he remains unaware that his favored 3-4-3 formation is exacerbating his struggling team’s woes.
While Manchester United’s hierarchy publicly insists on supporting the former Sporting CP manager, claiming patience is needed for new signings to adapt and confidence to return, the unchanging truth of professional football remains: results are the sole yardstick for a coach. From Ten Hag to Solskjær, Mourinho to Van Gaal, and Moyes before them, the Old Trafford dugout has never lacked short-lived occupants. Now, the cloud of persistent defeats is rapidly consuming Amorim’s remaining tenure.
The 1-3 loss to Brentford marked his 17th Premier League defeat in 33 games as United boss, yielding just 34 points for a dismal 1.03 points-per-game average. His 27.3% league win rate – even lower than Graham Potter’s 26% before his sacking by West Ham – makes him the worst-performing Manchester United manager of the Premier League era. David Moyes, dismissed after 10 months in 2014, still maintained a 50% win rate, while Ralf Rangnick secured 41.6% in his chaotic 24-game interim spell in 2022.
Amorim’s numbers are beyond redemption: 39 goals scored vs. 53 conceded in 33 league matches, 21 losses in 49 games across all competitions, and a staggering 95 goals each for and against. Worse, the team hasn’t won an away league game since March’s 3-0 victory over relegated Leicester City and hasn’t strung together two consecutive league wins all season. Last month’s League Cup elimination by fourth-tier Grimsby Town was the club’s first-ever defeat to a team at that level in its 147-year history.
When CEO Omar Berrada and football director Jason Wilcox – the key decision-makers accountable to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazers – close the boardroom door in silence, what justification remains to retain the embattled coach?
Sources reveal a lack of credible alternatives (names like Xavi, Southgate, Glasner, Hölzl, and Iraola remain media speculation) is Amorim’s lifeline. However, the hierarchy acknowledges the team’s underperformance, with the Portuguese failing to extract progress from the squad he inherited in November.
Behind-the-scenes turmoil at Old Trafford – hundreds of staff laid off amid cost-cutting – has undeniably dented morale, offering a mitigating factor. Amorim isn’t accountable for his predecessor’s mistakes: players like Zirkzee and Ugarte joined Ten Hag’s squad in the 2024 summer window before he arrived. Yet while Scott McTominay departed for £25 million to Napoli, United splurged double that on Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain.
This summer, Amorim sought an experienced goalkeeper to replace Onana but settled for Antwerp’s 23-year-old Mateusz Rament, costing £15 million, due to prohibitive fees for Donnarumma or Martínez. Despite publicly lamenting the midfield’s lack of athleticism, United failed to reinforce the position, instead loaning out 21-year-old Charlie Collier (16 appearances last season) to West Brom without a replacement.
Notwithstanding these issues, United still invested over £200 million on attackers like Mbemo, Cunha, and Šeško this summer.
Numbers never lie – they coldly expose harsh realities. As Amorim approaches his 50th game in charge, excuses ring hollow. A defeat to Sunderland this weekend would spell genuine peril for his Old Trafford tenure, potentially marking his swan song.
