Manchester United’s dire domestic campaign continued at the weekend when the club suffered their 17th loss of the season when they went down 2-0 at home to West Ham United.
That meant the Hammers – who had not won in eight games – leapfrogged the Red Devils in the table, with Ruben Amorim’s side sitting 16th with just two matches left to play.
While Manchester United have enjoyed success in Europe this season and will take on Tottenham in the Europa League final later this month, they will finish the Premier League season with their lowest-ever points haul and lowest placing in the final table.
Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ruben Amorim stance
Amorin replaced Erik ten Hag as Red Devils chief in November, shortly after he had been ranked at No.11 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best current managers in the world, but has struggled to turn things around at Old Trafford and said that the club needs to undergo significant changes this summer following this latest defeat.
“Everybody has to think seriously about a lot of things here,” he said. “We have to change a lot of things at the end of the season. I’m talking about myself, I’m talking about the culture in the club and the culture in the team. I have that feeling and we need to change that.
“We need to be really strong in the summer and be brave. If the feeling is still here, then we should give space to different persons.”
But despite Manchester United’s poor form and Amorim’s honest admission regarding changes, it would appear that he still has the backing of the club’s minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
“I think he’s done a great job in the circumstances, frankly, with the squad that he’s had available, the fact he came in mid-season,” Ratcliffe told the BBC back in March, shortly after his side had held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
“Everybody expects miracles overnight. It’s not the way, not real life in my view. I mean, you saw the performance yesterday [against Arsenal]. It was, I thought, a really impressive performance. They could not have worked harder. They couldn’t have been more committed.
“And if you looked at the names on the bench, there weren’t many you recognised, were there? Half the squad’s missing for Ruben. If you look at the top eight players in terms of salaries in Manchester United, 50 percent of those are not available to Ruben.
“You’ve got Mason Mount, you’ve got Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford has gone, and Jadon Sancho. And he’s got a bunch of other injuries as you know, so I think he’s done a fantastic job.”
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, it would indeed be harsh to lay all of the blame at Amorim’s door, considering the situation he inherited mid-season. This is a club that is paying for their sins of the past, as years of mismanagement are catching up with them.
If the club are able to get in players that fit Amorim’s set-up this summer and also have Champions League money coming in, Amorim should be able to oversee significant improvements next term.
