Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd in-tray – find a solution at left-back and reinvigorate Rashford

As the Portuguese coach prepares to take on the biggest job in football, Telegraph Sport looks at the key areas that need addressing

Ruben Amorim has become the sixth permanent Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired 11 years ago and takes over a club currently languishing in 14th position after their worst ever start to a Premier League season. Telegraph Sport pores over the 39-year-old Portuguese coach’s bulging in-tray at Old Trafford.
United are as close to the relegation places as they are to the top four after mustering just 11 points from nine games having lost more matches – four – than they have won – three. It will take a huge effort from here for Amorim to catapult United back into Europe’s premier club competition.
But missing out on Champions League football for a second successive season for the first time since the competition was branded in 1992 would incur financial penalties in their kit deal with Adidas and mean another revenue hit at a time when money is already tight due to the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
There would also be the reputational damage of one of the world’s biggest clubs again being shut out of the most respected and lucrative club cup competition in world football.
United cannot hope to be successful if they continue to have so many players unavailable through injury. Erik ten Hag’s second season and the start of his third were plagued by injury woes that Amorim must find solutions to if results and performances are to improve over time.
Ten Hag said after his penultimate game in charge, against Fenerbahce in Turkey, that collectively the club had to find answers to the injury crisis, but the players may hope a change of manager brings about its own improvements in that regard.
It was not uncommon for players to privately question the intensity of some of Ten Hag’s training sessions, particularly after a poor result or performance, when the Dutchman’s response was often to put on extra training.
Some senior players felt more individually tailored programmes were required and that it was counterproductive for older players to be asked to train in the same way as younger squad members who might not need the same level of rest and recovery between games. Amorim may find there are quick gains to be made by adapting the approach.
United conceded at least three times in 24 of Ten Hag’s 128 games in charge. The frequent sight of opponents running unchecked through acres of spaces at times carried an almost pantomime type farce to it. In 2024, United lost one of every three Premier League matches they played.
Sure, they have to start taking their chances and stop being so wasteful in front of goal but as a starting point Amorim needs to make the team hard to beat by closing the gaps, making them more compact out of possession and forcing opponents around them rather than through them. This was one of his strong suits at Sporting Lisbon and United fans will hope he can replicate it in Manchester.
Ten Hag would routinely insist that United “stick to the plan”. The problem was no one had the first clue what that plan was. Managers at other clubs have wasted no time imposing their style of play on a team, even if results were not always immediately forthcoming, and Amorim has to do the same at Old Trafford.
It has to be clear from early on what Amorim’s United stand for and look like, what they want to be, what the “game model” represents – successive United teams have had a muddled identity for far too long. No more watching United and wondering what on earth it is they are trying to do.
Luke Shaw has not played for United since February and, to judge by Ten Hag’s remarks after his final game in charge, is not likely to be back any time soon either. Tyrell Malacia last played for the club in May 2023, at the end of Ten Hag’s first season.
Despite this, United elected not to sign another left-back when lavishing £200 million in the summer window and the team has lacked balance as a consequence. More recently, Ten Hag deployed Lisandro Martinez at left-back, but if Amorim is to stick with his preferred 3-4-2-1 system then he is going to have to find answers to the persistent conundrum in the position.
Martinez is likely to play on the left of a back three and, while Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui have both filled in at left-back, neither are left-footed and it has proved a problem. Perhaps Amorim will look to repurpose a winger such as Antony as a left wing-back, but if there is one position the new manager could end up targeting in the January transfer window it is that.
For all his faults, Rashford is still United’s biggest goal threat and Amorim needs to find a way of getting through to a player that other managers have at times found impenetrable.
After the worst season of his career, there have been signs this term of Rashford rediscovering his form, despite some unfathomable team selections from Ten Hag, such as his decision to substitute the England striker at half-time of the 3-3 draw against Porto or start him on the bench against Crystal Palace when he had just scored three goals in two games.
Amorim needs to connect with Rashford on some level to try to coax the right focus and consistency out of him.
Ten Hag’s public engagements were likened to an appointment with the dentist by one United insider. The Dutchman had a problem communicating both publicly and privately and lacked charm and charisma.
Amorim, a fluent English speaker, has no such trouble in that department and it is important from the outset he gets his messaging right and sets out as he means to go on.
Press conferences do not have to be dour, cantankerous affairs. They can be entertaining at the same time as an opportunity to get a point across and United desperately need a manager who looks and sounds the part and then backs it up with action.