Ruben Amorim was, by any metric, an absolute disaster at Old Trafford. In the Premier-League era, no United manager has achieved fewer points per game, nor a finish as low as 15th-place; looking further back, no United manager since Frank O’Farrell, in 1972, lost as high a percentage of games; and every other United manager in history avoided the eternal stain of losing a cup final to Tottenham Hotspur, never mind Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur.
Life, though, is rarely as simple as mate, your precious 3-4-2-1 is a piece of nonsense, and Amorim leaves United in a state far better than the one in which he found them. After Brighton were beaten earlier in the season, Danny Welbeck reported teammates lauding the best opponent they’d faced in a while, while the football played in the 4-4 draw with Bournemouth was both promising and exhilarating. And, though it’s impossible to argue against the sacking – even if its trigger was criticising bosses with even more miserable track records – Amorim was ultimately stymied by bad luck. Had the absences of key players not coincided with injuries to key players, he’d still be in a job – perhaps even thriving.
As such, Darren Fletcher inherits a reasonable state of affairs. Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo are fit again, while Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo will soon be back from Afcon; merely sensible husbandry of a talented squad should be enough to secure a fifth-place finish and with it a European spot for next season, most likely in the Champions League.
