Did Ruben Amorim underestimate the Manchester United job? – Weekly Takeaway

Perhaps Manchester United fans did not take Ruben Amorim serious enough when he said that United were going to suffer whilst he implemented new ideas. The alarm bells will definitely now be ringing for fans after Amorim made a damning comment after Sunday’s game, claiming ‘We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United’. It is quite hard to disagree, given the fact that United sit 13th in the league table, ten points above the relegation zone and looking very likely to have a bottom-half finish come the end of the season.
Another home defeat on Sunday afternoon, this time to Brighton in a 3-1 loss, making it six losses in our last seven league games against the Seagulls. Not only a very poor result, but a really poor performance in which United did not test Bart Verbruggen at all in the Brighton goal. A goalkeeper should never come to Old Trafford and make zero saves, but United made is a very easy afternoon for the man in net. The only shot on target for United was Bruno Fernandes’ penalty which he converted, but everything else was either blocked or missed the target, showing that the issues in front of goal continue and do not look like they will come to an end any time soon.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said post-match that ‘We knew how Manchester United will play and you can prepare for that.’, another thing that should not be said about a Manchester United side. We have become way too easy to play against and it is not the first time that this has been pointed out in recent years. United lost the midfield battle today and Brighton exploited the space out wide with Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh constantly getting in behind Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui, leading to all three goals.
Whilst Andre Onana was at fault for two of the three goals, Brighton undoubtedly deserved to be in front and United showed no fight to get back into the game even with 15 minutes to go, plus added time.
It is a difficult position for Amorim to be in, as he himself admitted that he wanted to stay at Sporting Lisbon for the remainder of the season, and then join United and have pre-season with the squad. This would have then given him time and a summer transfer window to work out what he wanted to do with the squad and get his philosophy across to the players. Instead, he has come into a very poor side mid-season, with no money to strengthen the side and a lot of players who he arguably will not want long-term.
22 games in and the league season is a write-off, United fans can now only hope for a successful FA Cup and Europa League campaign to have a positive end to what is looking like an incredibly grim season.