This time we lost at home to Brighton.
The words in the title are not a strong statement by the author, but a phrase said by Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim after the match at Old Trafford against Brighton. The meeting ended with a score of 3:1 in favor of the guests and became the fourth defeat Manchester United at home in the last five home matches.
United have picked up just 11 points from 11 league matches since Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag at the helm in November. The Red Devils occupy a humiliating 13th place for such a team in the standings, already seven points outside the top ten and ten points ahead of the relegation zone.
At the post-match press conference, Amorim decided not to hold back:
We have only won twice in our last ten Premier League matches. I can imagine what this means for Manchester United fans. Imagine what that means to me. The team has a new coach who loses more often than the last one. I am fully aware of this. We are probably the worst team in Manchester United history. I understand that Media will make headlines because they want big statements. But I say this because we need to recognize the problem and change something.
Degree of decline
But Media They not only extracted the Portuguese’s words from the headlines, but also calculated whether he was telling the truth. After all, Manchester United We have 147 years of history behind us and things have happened there. It turned out that at this stage of the season Manchester had fewer points than 13 times before. The last time this happened was in the 1986/87 season. That is, according to this indicator, United is the worst team, but not in history, but over the last 38 years, which is also a lot.
You can see other figures that highlight the decline Manchester Unitedcompared to what they were in the past. For example, this was United’s sixth home defeat in the Premier League this season. This is the most home defeats in 12 matches since the 1893/94 season. This is where it feels more like a truly historic “success.”
Manchester have conceded the first goal in each of their last five home matches. This is a repeat of the longest series, which, by the way, happened not so long ago – from August to October 2023.
In total, Manchester United have lost ten of their 22 Premier League matches. The last time the team recorded a double-digit number of league defeats so quickly was in the 1989/90 season, under the management of Alex Ferguson. Finally, we can recall that Manchester United relegated five times from the first division. The last time this happened was in 1974. And while it’s still hard to believe it will happen, Ruben Amorim called such a scenario possible.
Admit failures
Amorim has a lot of credibility, but the pressure on him increases with each match. The lesions accumulate, a set of problems develops from which it will be difficult to escape. Even the last victory against Southampton (3:1) was not without nerves, because Manchester United lost until Amad Diallo scored a late hat-trick.
The coach emphasizes that the team has difficulty adapting to the 3-4-3, but he is not going to give up on it, since this option brought him success with Sporting:
I knew it would be difficult to bring a completely new idea to life on the fly. But when you lose several matches in a row, it becomes even more difficult. Everyone is bad at what they do, and we need to recognize that. It’s unacceptable to lose so often. Our rivals are superior to us in many ways. We cannot maintain stability and my work does not help the players. The team finds itself in a difficult position because of these losses. I know we can succeed, but I’m not naive. We must survive this moment. I have no intention of changing.
Clearing the rubble
It is already obvious that in summer Manchester United A new major restructuring awaits us. Amorim is unhappy with many players and will want to rebuild the team according to his vision, as he has no plans to change. So potential buyers are already walking around and looking at different Manchester players. Among the latter, it is worth noting Betis’ interest in winger Anthony, who is the second most expensive purchase in history. Manchester United and in no way justifies this status.
Christian Eriksen and Victor Lindelof will leave United this summer after their contracts expire, and Dutch clubs are interested in full-back Tyrell Malasia. Manchester will also release 32-year-old defensive midfielder Casemiro if a suitable offer is received. On £375,000-a-week, the Brazilian is the team’s highest-paid player but has not played a single minute since December’s defeat to Newcastle.
Amorim openly stated that Marcus Rashford would also leave the team. Besides, the Portuguese called it “player’s choice”. He stressed that he would not put on the field a player who does not suit the team. Alejandro Garnacho is also set to leave. Previously Manchester United Napoli have rejected a bid for him, but there are other suitors for the 20-year-old winger.
If we talk about those whose sale Manchester will clearly not approve of, they are Kobby Maina and Amad Diallo, who flourished under the leadership of Amorim. There seems to be a high level of confidence in goalkeeper Andre Onana, even if he sometimes alternates incredible saves with monstrous ‘catch’s. Brighton’s third goal came after his mistake.
So things are going very badly at Old Trafford. And Amorim admits it. It seems that the team will simply have to endure the rest of the season, trying not to get involved in the fight for survival. And in summer Manchester United perestroika awaits. Which is consistent with the count. The previous ones did not bring any particular results.
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