Mourinho best summed up how quickly a footballer’s career can come and go – Amorim may now have that chat with Rashford

IN theory at least, the only way is up for Manchester United, writes Charlie Wyett.

We are nearly a third of the way through this Premier League season and it is still staggering to see United lurking in 12th place.

They have managed just four wins with a goal difference of 0. Only Everton, Crystal Palace and Southampton have scored less.

It is certainly not a false position and a point at Ipswich illustrated the massive job that Ruben Amorim faces.

United’s fans sang the name of their new manager throughout the game.

They also gave the players rapturous applause on the final whistle and although this was an improvement on some of the performances this season, the bar has been set pretty low.

The club’s optimistic supporters will see that their team is only six points off the top four.  Ultimately, though, it is difficult to see United even reaching last season’s final position of eighth as they look worse.

United’s patched-up defence will improve – and a three-man formation at the back will help them – but you have to wonder where the goals are going to come from. Marcus Rashford struck after 81 seconds and then went missing for the rest of his 68 minutes on the pitch.

Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee were also introduced in that double change midway inside the second half but added absolutely nothing. What a terrible couple of signings they have proved to be and United’s fans would swap both of them for Ipswich’s Liam Delap.

Amorim did not celebrate the Rashford goal and paced around his technical area throughout looking uneasy.

Each time there was a break in play, he called over players for instructions.

Alejandro Garnacho headed over to the touchline on a couple of occasions while there were also words for Diogo Dalot, Casemiro and Jonny Evans.

Amorim, a manager with infectious enthusiasm, will be hopeful he can get his message across to all of the players in the next few weeks.

But the problem for the Portuguese coach is that this was the first of 10 games in the space of 33 days.

What he really needs are spells on the training ground without a midweek game but he does not have that luxury.

WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.

Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.

But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.

Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.

He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers. 

The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.

And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.

Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.

Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.

United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”

And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.

For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.