16 Sep 2025 02:48:17
Firstly. The club is partly to blame. Whilst Scholes said " I thought all summer the absolute priority was a centre midfield player with legs, who can play and can control a game. Goalkeeper was [also] a major issue. Did they really need to get to the Grimsby game to realise [Andre] Onana is not good enough? ". I have heard Scholes and Rio chirping in the background before, usually to get behind their mate Ole. However, Wayne Rooney was critical and he is still in and around the club with his son.
From my perspective I felt we needed a CF as priority, but then a CM then a GK. shambolic by the club not to get a CM and still be scrambling on deadline day. Shambolic. Shambolic and indecisive to scramble to bring in GK so late. The Onana performance at Grimsby was a sackable one let alone loaned out one. Why buy two No10's and keep Bruno? I am not going to stop saying it was a terrible mistake not to take the £100m.
So RA didn't get the best tools at the start. That's on the club, on Wilcox, Berada and SJR. Shambles.
However, I am concerned at RA intransigence in relation to any change of approach whatsoever. There are rumours he is thinking of dropping Bruno for Mainoo in CM for the weekend. Why has it taken him so long to realise Bruno isn't a CM? It looked for the City game an ideal opportunity to move Bruno forward to Cunha's No10 position and bring Mainoo in behind. The decision he actually made was baffling. Despite rumours I can't really see him dropping his captain, so suspect it's just psychology to get in Bruno's head. It's not motivation Bruno needs, he can't just change what he fundamentally is and that is not a CM.
Adapt, be clever with tactics, positions is vital but rigidity means opponents are able to work on a plan pregame. The Premier League managers and coaches will be better at that than in Portugal. Ok that might have been a wake up call when RA arrived but surely over summer there should have been that lightbulb moment in his head. That worries me now. The intransigence with Bruno worries me. Him saying this is my way, don't like then sack me is daring the club to sack him. That is something I don't like. Think it don't say it.
I like RA, I like almost everything he says, his having a pattern and plan, his decisions on the players leaving and being firm with them. However if he continues to show total inflexibility and plays Bruno in CM against Chelsea, it would show he doesn't realise what the strength in midfield we are playing against and if we get overrun and thrashed, I think a change in coach may have to be considered.
Let us remember RA is Head Coach and not "Manager", to me that means the structure of the club should be set and the coach coaches. If it isn't going well, it isn't good enough they can change coach. This is a structure I suggested when SAF retired. I remain behind RA but I have a watershed moment feeling this weekend.
Last chance saloon RA I suspect.
16 Sep 2025 08:21:23
Difficult to disagree with any of that, Red Man.
16 Sep 2025 09:51:53
Im not sure the club ever received an offer for bruno.
As i understand it he was approached and dismissed a move to Saudi and as a result the club got no offer.
At 31 he won't improve and will decline in pretty much every aspect of his game over the next 18 months not many players improve or uphold their performances after they rurn 31.
But to keep him and play him out of position is daft imo i don't mind trying it but when its failing all the time then change it. You could play bruno in there with royal keane and he would do well because he is careless with the ball in deep positions and doesn't see danger.
Not having a proper partner compounds that situation.
My mentor once told me when i was a young exec that the least likely think I will ever hear him say is 'we do it that way because that's the way we always do it' stick to the strategy but don't be afraid to switch tactics in order to adapt and 'dont let perfection get in the way of progress'
If Amorim does have a mentor or an experienced confidant then I hope he listens and opens himself up to try something a little different.
16 Sep 2025 11:00:50
What’s frustrating is that Jason Wilcox’s arrival seemed to signal a shift toward building a proper footballing structure — one that could finally give us a consistent identity across all levels of the club. His background in youth development and technical direction suggested we were moving toward a model where the club sets the philosophy, and the head coach works within it.
But then we appoint a coach who appears to have full control over the style of play, even if it doesn’t align with the rest of the club. That undermines the whole point of having someone like Wilcox in place. If the youth teams aren’t being coached in a way that prepares them for the first team, then we’re not building a pathway — we’re just reacting to the preferences of whoever is in charge of the first team.
This is where the structure looks fragile. If RA is allowed to dictate everything tactically, then what exactly is Wilcox overseeing? A modern football setup should have a clear philosophy that runs from academy to senior level, with the head coach fitting into that — not overriding it.
17 Sep 2025 01:36:00
Kurtis
Agreed, before SAF retired I was suggesting a big change in the club, to modernise it completely, using the Barcelona model. The style is the desired United one as set by a Football Director as agreed in the club and the coach is in place to make it happen. Doesn’t do it then he moves on. However, we were far too hung up on appointing Moyes hoping for another 20 years of stability with someone who would not demand big money for transfers, reasonable success expectations leaving the owners with juicy dividends. They failed and still don’t see the opportunity completely, although at least RA is Head Coach not Manager.
Looks to me like they decided RA offered a new revolutionary style of football they could all get behind, someone with a good mentality who knew what he wanted. So far that’s what they have but missing is the little bit of flexibility to adjust, room for manoeuvre.