Ruben Amorim: Every stadium is difficult for Manchester United, especially ours

DIFFICULT TIMES: Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim during the Premier League match at Goodison Park. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

Everton 2 Manchester United 2

RUBEN Amorim, asked by an Everton reporter for a reaction to his first, and last, visit to Goodison, was glowing about the famous old ground and spoke warmly about the difficulties posed by a game at one of English football’s great cathedrals.

At least the beleaguered Manchester United manager was honest enough to follow up that analysis with another searing commentary about his club’s current predicament.

“It is difficult but for me, in this moment, every stadium is really difficult. especially ours with our fans supporting all the time!” said Amorim.

“So my goal is just to win the next game.”

It was a moment of self-deprecating humour from the likeable Portuguese coach - the latest in a long line of them - but one which spoke to a larger truth.

This week, two home games at Old Trafford - where United are on course to record the worst league home record in their entire history - could well define United’s season and, possibly, Amorim’s entire reign.

On Wednesday, an Ipswich Town team 13 points behind United in the relegation places, visits with former United coach Kieran McKenna looking to pile the misery onto his former club and drag them to within 10 points of relegation.

Such is United’s lack of confidence in front of their own fans, this game is far more testing than it appears by examining the table.

And on Sunday, United host Fulham in the last 16 of the FA Cup. Twelve months ago, of course, a famous run to the final of that competition brought victory over Manchester City and a trophy which saved Erik ten Hag’s job last summer - not that anyone is celebrating about that fact nine months down the line, with Amorim still wrestling with the fall-out of that disastrous decision to retain the Dutchman’s services.

Two wins, and United are in the quarter-finals of the major domestic cup, in the last 16 of the Europa League and can forget any faint danger of being dragged into a late relegation scrap.

Anything less, and Amorim will remain in the current limbo-like status of trying to justify his apparent decision to give up on the remainder of this season and focus on a summer re-build and intense coaching up of a team that simply cannot play his system at present.

This is at the heart of United’s problems under Amorim. Having heard pundits and critics bad-mouth ten Hag for so long, for his failure to stamp an obvious system or philosophy on his United, his successor appears to have gone to the opposite extreme.

Most press conferences with Amorim of late have wasted long minutes debating his preferred 3-4-3 system and why he refuses point blank to shift from it even though virtually every member of squad has demonstrated their incompatibility with it.

Amorim routinely ends such discussions by pointing out his system is flexible, in any case, and invariably ends with a mantra that all he is interested in is winning games.

Every passing week throws that statement into increasing doubt, with his stubborn insistence on sticking with his precious philosophy, rather than adopting a more pragmatic approach to picking up points.

Successes, when they have come, appear to have been in spite of the system, not because of it, and the second half at Goodison was no exception as United rallied, with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Manual Ugarte, to recover from a 2-0 deficit and one of the worst halves of football produced by an Amorim team.

Goals from Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure were the minimum Everton deserved for their first half of utter domination and, only when Amorim threw on Alejandro Garnacho and Fernandes began to buzz, did United manage to stage their impressive late recovery.

Fernandes, rightly, earned praise for his match-changing performance but Garnacho, not for the first time, delivered off the bench and is yet another issue that Amorim has to address. As a starter, Garnacho has proved far less effective than as an impact sub, with the added complication of the young winger being unable to hide his displeasure at constantly being left out of the starting XI.

"There are some games that are different and we want different things in the same positions," said Amorim. "Garnacho will be ready for the next game and it's a good thing to be disappointed.

"But we have a lot of games. In modern football, you don’t have a starting XI, it’s really hard, especially now. We have a squad that we have to rotate.

"And then I imagine the game and then I imagine the characteristics of the players to try to win the game and today the game, I think in a different way to have Garnacho on the bench to change something."

Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford 5; O'Brien 5, Tarkowski 6, Branthwaite 7, Mykolenko 6; Garner 7 (Iroegbunam 81), Gueye 6; Lindstrom 7 (Young 53, 5), Doucoure 8 (Alcaraz 81), J Harrison 6; Beto 7. 

Manchester United (3-4-2-1): Onana 6; Mazraoui 6 (Yoro 70, 5), Maguire 5, De Ligt 5; Dalot 5, Ugarte 6, Casemiro 4 (Garnacho 62, 7), Drogu 7; Zirkzee 5, Fernandes 8; Hojlund 5 (Obi 70, 5).

Referee: A Madley 6.