FA Cup holders Manchester United are out of the competition, with a defeat on penalties to Fulham adding another slice of misery to an alarming season - and some United fans in the Manchester Evening News comments section are wondering just how much they can take under Ruben Amorim before the time comes for a change.
The Manchester United squad suffered through yet another tepid performance, going down by a goal at the stroke of half-time thanks to Calvin Bassey's header past Andre Onana. Bruno Fernandes dragged the team back into the game with a weak-foot finish that pierced through the Fulham defence, enough to take the tie to a shootout.
Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee had their spot-kicks saved, ending the FA Cup run and leaving the prospect of the Europa League trophy as the only bright spot remaining this season. Ruben Amorim remained steadfast that he would be the one to take United back to their past glories despite his current woes, saying: "The goal is to win the Premier League. I know we are losing games and trophies in this season, but the goal is to win the Premier League. Again, I don't know how long it's going to take, but it's our goal."
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Some fans would prefer to wait to see if Amorim can live up to his promises. Reader FreddiePayne says: “Horrendous yet again. The complete lack of effort after the first half was appalling. Even the TV commentators said that United were just jogging around, and they were right.
"More and more it seems that the players are trying to throw Amorin under the bus and basically refuse to play this system. Yeah, Amorim has to take blame, but equally with the players. Same thing week in and week out and no end in sight. We’re not safe from relegation yet either, if the bottom three were not also terrible then we’d be right there.”
Commenter SarQqq agrees that it's the squad who are at fault: “What formation should he play? They were bad under Ten Hag playing the same formation and system they’ve been playing for years. I get that he’s got to adapt, but maybe the players need to adapt better to the system. All professional footballers should know how to play different systems. New managers go into teams and change formations and systems all of the time.”
Toothpick writes: “Let's be honest. We won the FA Cup last year and it didn't have a positive impact to our overall performance moving forward. Rooney talks about short term results, but we have been through this many times. I am still in agreement with Amorim and Ratcliffe that fundamentally, this club needs a reset. Reset is easier said than done. We have no choice but to trust in the current management. Let's be patient and get to summer.”
SimplyRed60 says: “Going to take years of very good transfer business to undo the harm Ten Hag did. Amorim needs to develop alternative tactics when needed, to suit the players he has, but it seems safe to say we can look forward to a few years more of this turgid football and being bottom half of the league.”
Others are finding that hope to be fading fast. Panchopearson says: “Some really strange decisions by the coach, and the 3-4-3 is now a 5-2-1-1-1, with little or no service to the centre forward. We looked like the underdog at home, defending deep and trying to hit Fulham on the break. Unfortunately, that is where we are at the moment. Only have the Europa to play for now, and to try and get as high as we possibly can in the league. Jury is still out on the coach I'm afraid. I hope I am wrong but he isn't the one to bring success back to the club.”
Trojan39 writes: “A good manager adopts his tactics to the players available. Amorim persists with 3-4-3 and has brought in a defence coach who has made the defence worse. Obi was keen and has potential but is raw and obviously lacks experience. Rashford and even Antony and Sancho playing better away from Amorim. I've followed United for well over 50 years and have never felt so sad and disappointed. Even during the bad times we still entertained.”
Reader Zos has run out of patience altogether: “Amorim has given up and is just playing the same awful football, hoping sooner or later he will get the sack and a big pay off and will go back to Portugal. He has done absolutely nothing to improve this team and in fact we have regressed under him.”
Have your say! What is the ceiling for Ruben Amorim's Manchester United? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.
