It was supposed to be a revolution. A young Portuguese coach with a bold philosophy, the man who ended Sporting’s 19-year title drought. Manchester United thought they were hiring a visionary. Instead, Ruben Amorim’s tenure already feels like a Netflix drama gone wrong: big budget, big promises, and a lead actor out of his depth.
Eight league wins. €300 million spent. And a team that looks less like a superclub and more like a science experiment gone sideways.
United fans wanted a fresh start. What they got is a manager stubbornly clinging to his system, while the club bleeds under it.
“I will do everything I can for Manchester United. I’m suffering more than the fans. But I won’t change my philosophy. If the board wants change, they should change the man.”
That was Amorim after another defeat. Translation: It’s my way, or sack me.
The Identity Crisis
Manchester United’s DNA, for decades, was clear: courage, risk-taking, flying wingers, youth breaking through. Amorim has erased that blueprint and replaced it with a stubborn devotion to his 3-4-3. It’s sterile, robotic, and reliant on perfect execution. And when you don’t have the players to pull it off, it collapses into confusion.
Even Jose Mourinho, no stranger to stubbornness himself, couldn’t resist a jab:
“There are coaches who try to do things that don’t work, but they die and say, ‘I died with my ideas.’ My friend, you didn’t die with your ideas. You’re just stupid.”
Why the Data Exposes the Illusion
Here’s the translation: Amorim’s sides did not create many good chances. Instead, they relied on individual players getting red-hot.
1. In 2020-21, Pedro Goncalves outscored his xG by 11 goals. Sporting won the title.
2. In 2023-24, Viktor Gyokeres overperformed his xG by 5 or more goals and dragged Sporting to another trophy.
That is like a casino win streak. Great when it happens, impossible to repeat. Even in their title years, Sporting’s total xG was only second or third best in the league. What carried them was not a brilliant attacking system. It was finishing streaks.
Now drop that into the Premier League. At United, there is no Gyokeres scoring goals out of nothing. And the defenders Amorim faces are not Braga’s; they are Virgil van Dijk and William Saliba. Which is why United, under Amorim, are generating about 1.6 xG per game, decent but not elite. Defensively, they are conceding 1.65 xG per game, relegation numbers.
In simple terms, his system only works if your players are better than everyone else. In England, they are not.
The €300m Mirage
That is because Amorim is not a system builder. He is a system beneficiary. Give him a striker on fire, and he looks like a genius. Without one, his football looks joyless and blunt.
As one furious United fan put it after the coach said he suffers more than the fans:
“I spent £2,000 flying to Spain and back to watch that embarrassment. You got paid more than that to lose the game. You tell me who’s suffering more.”
The truth? It is both. The fans are drained, and the manager looks lost.
Back or Sack?
On paper, Amorim’s resume glitters: two Portuguese titles, hailed as the next Mourinho. But scratch beneath the stats, and it falls apart.
1. Never led his league in chance creation.
2. Relied on strikers massively overperforming xG.
3.Has the worst win percentage of any United manager in the modern era (25.8%).
United fans expected a new Ferguson. Instead, they got a coach whose “genius” was built on hot streaks in a smaller league.
Backing him now feels insane. Sacking him feels harsh. That leaves the club in the worst place possible: stuck in the middle, bleeding time and points.
The MSport DataScout Verdict
Amorim insists he will not change. The math insists he cannot survive.
Manchester United now face the most brutal truth of all: if they do not change him, he is going to change them into a mid-table club.
