14/05/2025

Read

iPaper at Malaysian Paper

www.thesun.my Free access to iPaper PDF Download

app from the App Store or Google Play TM . Malaysian Paper or download

SCAN ME

SCAN ME

WEDNESDAY | MAY 14, 2025

Malaysian Paper

Amorim should not be safe from Man United sack even if he wins Europa League Ű BY RICHARD JOLLY Hammer to fall?

United have been atrocious, redefining what is possible for a club with their resources. They have two points from their last six games.

O NE of the world’s biggest clubs loses at home to a struggling team. There is talk that the beaten manager might have to go. The unusual aspect this time was that Ruben Amorim instigated it. His reaction to West Ham’s 2-0 win at Old Trafford was to say Manchester United “need to change a lot of things during after the season ends”. He cast further doubt on his own position. “If we start like this, or if the feeling is still here, we should give the space to different persons,” he said. Not, perhaps, if co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has his way. He said in March that Amorim was “doing a great job in the circumstances”. If that flew in the face of results, some circumstances have changed: United have since progressed to the Europa League final, only Ange Postecoglou’s terrible Tottenham separating them from a return to the Champions League. They have got still poorer in the Premier League. United are the only unbeaten team in Europe. They have scored 18 goals in their last five games. Although as, whatever happens, they won’t be in the Europa League next season, that may be of less relevance. There are mitigating factors for Amorim’s Premier League form: he was parachuted in mid-season, when he initially preferred to wait for the summer, to a squad who, even after a transfer window, only has two of his recruits. United have had a host of injuries. They have started to field weakened teams to focus on Europe. They have often lacked time on the training ground to adjust to Amorim’s tactics. But the more time they have had with him, the worse they have got. Their Premier League record would constitute a sackable offence, if Ratcliffe so chose. Because in any examination if Amorim should stay, there is an element of educated guesswork involved, trying to determine how he will fare next season, there is also the concrete evidence of his debut campaign. Which, in continental competition, looks good.

They have taken 24 from 25 under Amorim; over a season, that equates to 36 and, in previous years, that may have been relegation form.

In Erik ten Hag’s sorry final 14 months, he averaged 1.54 points per League match. Amorim’s return is just 0.96. That difference makes him, statistically, one of the most underachieving managers in the division’s history. He has more than twice as many League defeats to wins, 13-6. In his reign, losing has become normalised. They struggle to score under Amorim, failing to find the net in 10 of those 25 matches. They have lost seven of 12 at home, including to the teams currently 15th, 14th, 12th, 10th and ninth. Amorim’s team can produce shows of spirit, with late goals, but can also look anaemic. They tend to be slow starters. Look beyond the numbers and a mixed start to a managerial tenure can sometimes offer encouragement that better times lie ahead. Have United seen enough? There have been occasions when patterns of play are visible, hints of what Amorim’s gameplan is, but not enough. And, while Amorim has been unbending, a fundamental issue is an obdurate insistence on a 3-4 3 formation that is utterly unsuited to this squad. Amorim’s doom-laden prophecies have come to look accurate predictions. If they are not the worst team in United’s history, they are on course for the worst League finish in half a century. Ten Hag’s eventual fate offers a lesson from the past, even if Amorim represents a very different case. The Dutchman had a tendency to insist he was the right man. The Portuguese flagged up the possibility he might be the wrong one. But there should be discussions in the corridors of power if, regardless of the Europa League final, he should be in charge next season. And if Amorim himself feels not, there would be something noble in winning a trophy and walking away. – The Independent

Ruben Amorim. – AFPPIC

Sinner on cruise control n ntrol

McIlroy eyes more major glory

‘It feels different this time’

- Story on page 28

- Story on page 29

- Story on page 30

theSun is published and printed by Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd (221220-K) of Lot 6, Jalan 51/217, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-7784 6688 • Tel (Editorial): 03-7784 6688 Fax: 03-7785 2625 Email: newsdesk@thesundaily.com • Tel (Advertising): 03-7784 8888 Email: advertise@thesundaily.com