Times remain gloomy at Manchester United. Last night’s shock defeat to lowly Grimsby Town was another nail in the coffin of Amorim’s stint at the club. There seems to be no turning back. Absolutely no respite.
I have always sub-consciously associated the start of a new season with hope. Hope to replicate the success of the old, hope to defy odds, hope to shut down the nay-sayers.
However, in this moment, with only 3 games into the season, I don’t see how things can improve, at all.
I am all for giving the Manager due time to instil his philosophies and create his version of whatever is left of the Club. But as much as I like Amorim – his character, his belief, the way he expresses himself – it has dawned on me in recent days that this challenge might be a step too far. That the good times are far from coming back.
Coming to this conclusion pains me to the core. I have never agreed with the idea of the Manager having to face the consequences for his team not showing up. It is the players who deliver on the pitch. The Manager can only do so much.
But, in this particular case, I don’t see anything that can go right. We have incompetent players with imposter syndrome pulling on the shirt of the Club. We have a baffled Manager who is too stubborn to tweak setups and adjust to real-game situations. Add to that a sub-par build up scheme that will work once per game, and the result is a team of headless chickens, scrapping just to get by.
People say that projects take time. They cite Pep’s horrendous first season at Manchester City, Klopp’s long tryst to take Liverpool to the mountain top, as well as Arteta’s mediocre start at Arsenal to substantiate this stance.
However, what differentiates these illustrations from Amorim’s current project is the ‘spark’. You see a team play under a manager, and you just know that it will click. I remember watching Arsenal play City at the Emirates. If my memory serves me correct, Arsenal had just snapped up Odegaard, but nobody believed that they would come good. And then, albeit for the first 45 minutes, they gave the best team in the land absolute hell.
You watch Bournmouth under Iraola or Brighton under Hürzeler, and you know they will be a problem for the entire league. There are countless examples, and yet, there is no ounce of me that believes that this United side fits this mould, in any shape or form.
There is no conclusion to this blog post. Because there seems to be no conclusion to this misery. Let’s see what the next few weeks bring. I remain despondent without cure, till then.
Curated Chaos 