Amorim's Plan?
Amorim’s Plan?
No one can really doubt that Manchester United manager Eric ten Hag’s sale, for a risible £25.7m, of Scots’ midfielder, Scot McTominay, starting 18+14 substitute appearances, for 7 goals, in season 2023-24, to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli of Italy, on August 30th, 2024, as the 2024-25 season began, was a straightforward professional suicide, on a par with manager Ron Atkinson’s decision to sell Welsh top-scorer, Mark Hughes, for £2m to FC Barcelona of Spain’s La Liga, for the 1986-87 season, after Mark had top-scored in 1984-85, 38 (16) and 1985-86, 40 (17), precipitating the dismissal of ‘Big Ron’, and the arrival on November 6th, 1986, from Aberdeen, ‘The Dons’, of Scots’ manager, Alex Ferguson, where the former ‘Gers center forward (1967-69) won for the ‘Granite City’ the 1982-83 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., on May 11th, at Nya Ullevi, stadium of GAIS, IFK Göteborg and Örgryte IS; Gothenburg, Sweden, against Spain’s Real Madrid CF, while breaking the stranglehold Scotland’s Glasgow clubs, Celtic and Rangers, had on winning trophies there.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) confusingly describe both its cup competitions as leagues, UCL being an acronym for UEFA Champions League, whereas the European Champions’ Clubs Cup, inaugurated in 1955, and abbreviated as European Cup, is what UCL actually is, a cup competition, that is no longer competed for by the champions of each country, but through qualifying stages that, in the case of the Premier League, extends to those clubs finishing fourth.
French manager, Arsène Wenger, winning Ligue 1,1978-79, as a ‘sweeper’, with Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, in 2012 said to Arsenal chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, and the board there, who’d appointed him from Japan’s Nagoya Grampus Eight, guiding them to the 1995 Emperor’s Cup, 3-0, against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, on January 1st at the National Stadium, Tokyo, and the Super Cup there on March 9th, 1996, against Yokohama Marinos, 2-0, ‘For me there are five trophies every season: Premier League, Champions League, the third is to qualify for the Champions League ..’.1 Fourth and fifth, of course, are FA Cup, and League Cup, in Wenger’s estimation, which was financially astute, and Arsenal achieved UCL qualification from 1997-98, Wenger’s first season in charge, to 2016-17, while Arsène retired, after the 2017-18 season, despite Arsenal’s qualifying for that season’s similarly lucrative Europa League.
The Europa League, replacing the UEFA Cup, conceived as a cup competition for those clubs that had finished second, or lower, in their country’s respective leagues, is also not a league, which is the reason for it being known as the Europa Cup.
The cup competition, UEFA’s Cup Winners’ Cup, was competed for by the cup winners in each country, as their equivalent of the FA Cup winners, that is, it was actually a cup, but UEFA’s ‘legal egals’ abolished it in 1999, replacing it with their more egalitarian league cups. The European Conference League, inaugurated in 2021, for ‘lower ranked UEFA member countries’, as a cup, jeered, speaking volumes, but at a level high enough for supporters to stand still for it.
With asperity allied to alacrity, Alex re-bought the failing Hughes, 28 starts for 4 goals, and nicknamed ‘El Toro’ by the Barça fans, because of his bullish inability to deal with the Spaniards’ offside trap, known as matador, so re-loaned by Barcelona’s manager, Londoner Terry Venables. Born in Dagenham, January 6th, 1943, winning the League Cup, as a midfielder, with West London’s Chelsea in 1965, and the FA Cup with ‘Spurs, North London’s Tottenham Hotspur, in 1967, ‘El Tel’, as he was nicknamed by the media, had managed Barça to the European Cup Final of 1986; then that club’s first European Champions’ Clubs Cup Final since May 31st 1961, losing, 2-3, to Sport Lisboa e Benfica, at Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland.
The 1986 Final took place at the stadium of Sevilla FC, Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Seville, Spain, on May 7th, with Venables’ team losing to Romania’s CSA Steaua București, 0-0, a.e.t., 0-2 on penalties. Hughes’ difficulties, re-loaned to Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. of the German Bundesliga, for 1987-88, remained. Chasing the ball, while defenders tauntingly passed it back and forth between them, along the back four, and back again, if the refereeing match official didn’t intervene, and show the yellow card for time-wasting. Hughes, given 17 starts +1 substitute appearance by legendary FC Bayern manager, Jupp Heynckes, returned 6 goals.
Heynckes, at center forward, won the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1970-71, 1974-75, 1975-76, and 1976-77; losing to Liverpool in the 1977 European Cup Final, 1-3, on 25th May, at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. As manager, Jupp saw Real Madrid to the European Cup in 1998, 1-0 against Juventus of Italy, at Amsterdam Arena, the Netherlands, on May 20th, and on May 25th, 2013, oversaw Bayern Munich’s victory, 2-1, against Borussia Dortmund, also of the German Bundesliga, at London’s national Stadium, Wembley.
Back for United’s 1988-89 season, Ferguson paid Barcelona £1.8m, and Hughes’ first reward to Alex was the May 12th 1990 FA Cup Final, won in the May 17th replay, 1-0, against ‘The Eagles’ of Crystal Palace, with Mark giving United the lead in the initial encounter, 2-1, after central midfielder, Neil Webb, charged down center back Andy Thorn’s attempted clearance. The ball, finding Hughes slightly off balance, left corner of the six yard box, standing on his left leg, volleying right-footed, top right corner of the net, at London’s Wembley, on 62 minutes, and on 113 minutes the goal that forced a Wembley replay, left winger, center midfield, Danny Wallace’s through ball to Hughes, inside the 20 yard box, right edge of the ‘D’, right-footed, driven low, inside onrushing ‘keeper Nigel Martyn’s post to Mark’s left, 3-3.
In the May 15th 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup Final, Hughes scored in the 67th minute, after a free kick half way inside the Barça half, center, left-footed from Robson, finding the head of center half, Steve Bruce, right of center of the 20 yard box, with Mark running in to tap the ball, left-footed, into the net inside the left post, as it fell there, 1-0, and again in the 74th minute, rounding the Spanish ‘keeper, Carles Busquets, well outside the 20 yard box, but Hughes being forced out wide, to its center right edge, angling the ball low, right-footed inside the post, far left, 2-0, before Dutch defensive midfielder, Ronald Koeman’s free-kick on 79 minutes, 2-1, at Stadion Feijenoord, ‘De Kuip’ (‘The Tub’), Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
In the 1991 Super Cup Final, scheduled to take place over two legs, home and away, but played in a single game at Old Trafford, as at that time the break-up of the former ‘super state’ of Yugoslavia, into several independent entities, for example, Belgrade became the capital of Serbia, resulted in conflicts producing an environment unsafe for visitors, United having qualified as European Cup Winners’ Cup Winners, contesting the trophy, against European Cup Winners, Red Star Belgrade, ‘The Star’, on November 7th, Webb’s strike in the 67th minute, rebounding from midway up the right post, finding Scots’ center forward, Brian McClair, edge and center of the 6 yard box, right-footed, left corner, low, 1-0, was enough.
Mark was also in the side for the 1992 League Cup Final, won after Welsh left wing, Ryan Giggs, left of center edge of the 20 yard box, squared a ball inside to McClair, center edge, who ran in and scored with a ball hit low, into the right corner of the net, left-footed, close by the penalty spot, in the 14th minute, 1-0, against Nottingham Forest, ‘The Garibaldis’, on April 12th.
In 1992-93 the Premier League was won, and in 1993-94 the League and Cup double; Mark getting the third in the May 14th, 1994, FA Cup Final at Wembley on 69 minutes, after two penalties from French center forward, Eric Cantona. Dispossessing left back, Frank Sinclair, right edge of the 20 yard box ‘D’, Hughes angled the ball past onrushing Russian ‘keeper, Dmitri Kharine, into the left corner, low, 3-0, and United eventually ran out victors over ‘The Blues’, Chelsea, 4-0. However, as Mark’s goal tally went below double figures in 1994-95, 33+1 for 8, Alex sold him for £1.5m to Chelsea, for the 1995-96 season at their Stamford Bridge ground in the borough of Fulham and Hammersmith.
‘Those who repeat the mistakes of history are doomed’,2 to paraphrase Spanish philosopher, George Santayana. Ron Atkinson’s treatment of Hughes merely aped the rude savvy of his predecessors. The intelligence and wisdom of Dave Sexton, however, replacement for former Scotland boss, Tommy Docherty, United manager since December 22nd, 1972, who hadn’t been able to keep his hands off physiotherapist Laurie Brown’s wife, Mary, before the team won the May 21st, 1977, Wembley FA Cup Final, 2-1, against Liverpool, had been much vaunted by soccer’s cogniscenti.
‘Barmy’ Dave sold left wing, Gordon Hill, top-scorer for consecutive seasons, 1976-77, 38+1 for 15 goals, and 1977-78, 36 appearances for 17 goals, to ‘The Rams’, Derby County for £250,000, buying instead for 1978-79, from Wales’ Wrexham, Y Dreigiau, ‘The Dragons’, for £300,000, industrious Mickey Thomas, 25 appearances for 1 goal, and a May 12th losing appearance in the Wembley 1979 FA Cup Final to ‘The Gooners’ of Arsenal, 2-3.
Dave, unknowingly, owed his appointment, in the summer of 1977, to the fact that England captain, Gerry Francis (1974-76), was captain of ‘The Hoops’ at Sexton’s previous Shepherd’s Bush club, West London’s Queens Park Rangers (QPR) of Loftus Road, whereas Ron Atkinson, labeled ‘Bojangles’ by the media, because of the amount of chunky gold jewelry he wore, which reputedly clanked, replacing Dave in the summer of 1981, knowingly knew, and on October 1st, 1981, paid £1.5m for England captain (1980-91), ‘Captain Marvel’ Bryan Robson, to his former club, ‘The Baggies’ of Hawthorn Road, West Bromwich Albion (WBA).
McTominay had been instrumental in United’s winning the May 24th 2024 FA Cup Final, during which campaign he’d featured strongly, with opening goals, on 10 minutes in the quarter-final, 4-3, at home to Liverpool, with Eire ‘keeper, Caoimhín Kelleher, only able to parry South America’s Argentine right winger Alejandro Garnacho’s shot, left, near the corner of the six yard box, leaving the onrushing Scot the relatively simple task of putting the ball over the goal line with his upraised right boot, 1-0, and on 23 minutes against Coventry City, ‘The Sky Blues’, in the semi-final at Wembley, 3-3 (3-3), a.e.t., 4-2 on penalties, after Portuguese right back, Diogo Dalot, driving in a low cross, hard, center right edge of the 20 yard box, found Scot, almost on the goal line, running in, left-footed, high into the net, 1-0.
Deployed tactically, in the role of ‘false center forward’, Scot’s lying deep in midfield, drawing defenders away from the defensive line, and linking up with those making forward runs, led to defensive midfielder Kobbie Mainoo’s passing the ball into the net on 39 minutes against Manchester City, ‘The Citizens’, in the 2024 Final at Wembley; the team’s second, 2-0, before a late right-footed shot, inside Central Africa’s Cameroon ‘keeper André Onana’s right hand post, from the edge of the penalty area on 87 minutes, from Belgian winger, Jérémy Doku, on for Croatia’s central midfielder, Mateo Kovačić, on 46 minutes, made the final score, 2-1.
Scot, 33+1 appearances for 12 goals, alongside Belgian center forward, Romelu Lukaku, 35+1, and 14 goals, went on to win the 2024-25 scudetto with SSC Napoli, at home in their Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, as well as away; the trophy being the Coppa Campioni d'Italia, awarded to the successful club in the Italian Serie A league title race, with the players entitled thereafter to wear ‘the small shield’, the scudetto, with the green, white, and red tricolor of Italy’s national emblem on their shirts for the following season.
For a club used to being also rans to Internazionale of Milan, A.C. Milan, Il Diavolo, ‘The Devil’, and Juventus, of Turin, Piedmont, McTominay’s highly attuned football brain and athleticism compensated for what was lacking in vision and skill. Scot couldn’t compare with legendary irrepressible forward, Diego Maradona, Argentina’s 1986 World Cup winning captain, 3-2 against Germany, on June 29th at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, and who’d been their ‘best in the world’ striker for Naples in 1986-87’s title win, with 29 appearances for 10 goals, and again in 1989-90, with 26+2 appearances for 16 goals.
However, wrestling the 2024-25 championship away from the Milan giants of Lombardy, and the ‘Old Lady’ of Turin, Scot did contribute goals and driving inspiration; another attacking midfield presence seemingly unable to be denied. That ten Hag let Scot leave, on the understanding that Manchester United couldn’t afford him, was a sideswipe at the club; indicative of a flawed character. A lame excuse, jeering at the disabled, was the unannounced reason for ten Hag’s contract termination.
That ten Hag looked to be constructing the nucleus of a team that could challenge for the Premier League title, with Kobbie as the central defensive midfielder; Scot as a deep lying center forward, or ‘false 9’; Alejandro on the right wing; Marcus Rashford at center forward, or on the left wing, Amad Diallo of West Africa’s Côte d'Ivoire, on the left or right wing, or in the wing back role, and Diogo at right back/right wing back, or anywhere along the back line, saw the Dutch manager’s usually self-absorbed mien transformed to that of a tragic actor. Loss # 4, from 9 league games, left the club in 14th position. Eric was sacked on October 28th, 2024, following defeat, 1-2, at West Ham’s, ‘The Hammers’, London Stadium; the team officially deemed to have been performing poorly: consequent to Scot’s departure.
McTominay’s end-of-season delight was in high contrast to ‘The Red Devils’ losing in the Basque region of Spain to Spurs, ‘The Lilywhites’, in the Final of the Europa Cup, 0-1, on May 21st, 2025, at the stadium of Athletic Club, Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, with a 42 minute goal from close-in by Welsh right wing, Brennan Johnson, subsequent to a right-footed cross on the left from Senegal’s West African central midfielder, Pape Matar Sarr.
Ill-starred left-back, Luke Shaw, chesting the ball, willing it past ‘keeper Onana’s right hand post, as if he had telekinesis, instead found he’d laid it on for the Spurs’ winger, as Johnson ran on. Carefully side footing neatly, low down, with his right boot, though falling leftwards onto the pitch, away from the upright, Brennan’s stretch was careful; guiding the ball inside the post, with Onana despairingly trying to push it out.
Ten Hag’s soccer suicide meant that he wasn’t there, but rather Portuguese manager, Ruben Amorim, winning, as a manager, the Portuguese title, in 2020-21, and 2021-24, with Sporting CP’s Leões, ‘Lions’. At right midfield, he was runner-up, with S. L. Benfica, in the Europa Cup Final of 2014, to Spain’s Sevilla, 0-0, a.e.t., and 2-4 on penalties, in Juventus Stadium, Turin. But won the Primiera Liga for Benfica, O Glorioso, ‘The Glorious One’, at home in Estádio da Luz, ‘The Stadium of Light’, in 2009-10, 2013-14, and 2014-15, while representing his country 14 times.
Ruben appeared for Portugal on June 15th at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, replacing central midfielder, Raul Meireles, of Futebol Clube do Porto against Ivory Coast, on 85 minutes, in the opening Group G match, 0-0, at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, though Portugal lost, 0-1, to Spain in the round of 16, and in the last Group G match at South America’s 2014 World Cup in Brazil on June 26th, Amorim featured in all 90 minutes against Ghana, 2-1, at Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasilia, though Portugal were eliminated on a goal difference of -3, while the United States of [North] America, ‘The Stars and Stripes’, progressed to the round of 16.
Losing another 14 games, over and above ten Hag’s 4, with United being described as a ‘pub team’, Amorim’s appointment looked more disastrous to some. Introducing his strategy, and tactical system used at Sporting CP, with its three center backs, and two wing backs, left many of United’s soccer fans baffled. They were wary of what to hope for, after Ruben’s taking over team selection from November 11th, 2024, following a brief successful interlude from former reds’ Dutch striker, trainer of the forward line, Ruud van Nistelrooy, as caretaker manager, who’d effectively saved the side’s season by coaching the players to victory, 2-0, at Old Trafford, over Greece’s Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans (A.C. PAOK), ‘Double-Headed Eagle’, on November 7th, 2024, during the league phase of the Europa Cup.
Mononymously known as ‘Amad’, the left-footed inside/outside right struck twice against PAOK. Much favored by Amorim, after loan periods during ten Hag’s tenure at Scots’ club Glasgow Rangers of Ibrox Stadium, 2021-22, 4+6 appearances for 3 goals, and Championship club, Sunderland, ‘The Black Cats’, 2022-23, 34 starts for 13 goals, Diallo was a tricky winger, brought from Italy’s Atalanta BC, ‘The Goddess’, La Dea, Bergamo, Lombardy, where he won, in successive 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, the U-19 youth championship, Campionato Primavera. Signing for United on 7th January, 2021, after scoring on his full debut, as a 79th minute substitute for Atalanta at home to Udinese, ‘The Little Zebras’, 7-1, on October 27th, 2019-20, Amad made 0+3 appearances for that goal, and 0+1 in 2020-21, before going to ‘the Theater of Dreams’ for €21.3m. Capable of making the wing back position his own too, he made 3+6 appearances for ten Hag in 2023-24; scoring 1 goal, but 20+6 appearances for Ruben, ousting by turns, Rashford, whose declared favored position was the left wing; winger, Jadon Sancho, returning to his native land, bought for £73m, on July 1st, 2021, from Borussia Dortmund, ‘The Prussians’; Brazil’s winger, Antony, bought from Dutch club AFC Ajax, ‘Sons of the Gods’, on September 1st, 2022, for £82m, and Netherlands’ winger, and center forward, Joshua Zirkzee, bought from Italy’s Bologna FC 1919, ‘The Greyhounds’, 24th July, 2024, for £36.5m. Amad was joint top-scorer for the 2024-25 campaign; 8 alongside Portugal’s midfield goal-getting, ball-playing, creative genius, Bruno Fernandes.
However, the fact that no player reached double figures was symptomatic of a true malaise. It was the lowest overall total of goals (44), with a goal difference of -10, chalked up by a United squad since the club’s relegation season of 1973-74 (38), again with a goal difference of -10. Then Northern Ireland’s Sammy McIlroy, similarly deployed as a ‘false 9’ at times by Scots’ manager Tommy Docherty, and as Paul Scholes would be by his manager, Ferguson, top-scored, with 6.
Diallo’s strikes, in the second half against PAOK, were typical of his playing style. Running onto an infield cross, behind him, and then in front of him, from Bruno, left, center midfield, to the right corner of the penalty box, Amad rose on 50 minutes to loop a header over Croatia’s Dominik Kotarski, the ball falling inside the ‘keeper’s right hand post, 1-0, and after winning a midfield tussle deep in the PAOK half, with West Africa’s Ghanaian left-back, Baba, Diallo curled a left foot shot on 77 minutes at the right edge of the 20 yard ‘D’, low into the bottom left corner of the net, 2-0.
After Rashford and Zirkzee got two apiece against Everton, ‘The Toffees’, on December 1st, 2024, it left United in 9th place in the Premier League, with Marcus top-scoring on 4 goals for the season. Striking a right-footed corner from Fernandes, right-footed, side-footed, low along the turf, right side of the ‘D’, inside the 20 yard box; the ball deflecting into the net from Everton center back Jarrad Branthwaite’s outstretched left boot, on 34 minutes, 1-0, and Amad, right of Marcus, inside the center circle, running from inside the United half, collecting a through ball from Zirkzee, to his right; Joshua, right-footed, back to goal, left edge of the United half of the center circle. Rashford, keeping pace, right of Amad, tearing down the right side of the field. Darting between Everton defenders, center back, James Tarkowski, and Ukraine left back, Vitally Mikolenko, inside the 20 yard box, Marcus receives the ball forward from Diallo, left-footed, along the turf, right edge of the ‘D’, from behind, the ball delivered to the right of Mikolenko, with Tarkowski to Vitally’s left, and Marcus’ dart between them, through on ‘keeper Jordan Pickford, by his post, near right, narrowing the angle, but unable to prevent the right-footed strike, on 46 minutes, at the right corner of the six yard box; the ball hitting the back of the net: squeezed inside the right post, 3-0.
His first home game in charge, Amorim’s first win, Rashford had got the 2nd minute goal in the previous game, drawn at Portman Road, 1-1, against Ipswich Town’s ‘Tractor Boys’, on November 24th, 2024. Amad, steaming down the right flank, bursting into the 20 yard box at the right corner, firing a dipping ball, with Swiss ‘keeper, Arijanet Muric, looking to collect, but Marcus, nipping in to bundle the ball past him, 1-0, in Ruben’s first ever game in charge, going on as he had under previous managerial regimes.
Beginning with Holland’s Louis van Gaal, under whose direction Rashford was a part of the team that won the 2016 FA Cup Final on May 21st, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., against Crystal Palace at Wembley, before the appointment of Portugal’s José Mourinho, who coached Marcus to be a winner in the sides that won the League Cup, 3-2 on February 26th against Southampton, ‘The Saints’, at Wembley, and the Europa Cup in 2017, 2-0 against Ajax of Amsterdam at Friends Arena, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden, on May 24th.
Under the stewardship of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Rashford reached the Final of the 2021 Europa Cup against Spain’s Villarreal CF, ‘The Yellow Submarine’, 1-1 (1-1), a.e.t., before losing 10-11 on penalties, # 4 converted by Marcus, after Uruguay center forward, Edinson Cavani, had given United hope, close-in on 55 minutes from 5 yards; having the ball laid into his path by McTominay, center edge of the six yard box, right-footed, 1-1, after a 20 yard Rashford effort, deflecting off left back, Alfonso Pedraza, and center back, Pau Torres’ lunging, right leg outstretched to dispossess Edinson, unavailingly; Scot directing a short ball forward, and Cavani’s strike, low, direct, making sure it hit the back of Argentine ‘keeper Gerónimo Rulli’s net.
Legendary Norwegian striker for United, Solskjaer doubtless didn’t see Spanish ‘keeper David de Gea’s missing of his spot kick, at Stadion Gdańsk, Poland, on May 26th, as tragicomic. As an 81st minute substitute for center forward, Andy Cole, to win the 1999 European Cup Final, 2-1, against FC Bayern Munich, on May 26th at Barcelona’s stadium, Camp Nou, Ole had raised his right boot to connect with the ball, sending it high into the net, almost on the goal line, at the far post, on 90+3 minutes, following an in-swinging corner by right wing, David Beckham, that found center forward, Teddy Sheringham, who’d already re-directed a Giggs effort into the Bayern net on 90+1 minutes, to equalize right midfielder Mario Basler’s 6th minute direct free-kick, from outside the 20 yard box, awarded by Italian referee, Pierluigi Collina, after center forward, Carsten Jancker, was deemed to have been impeded by United’s Norwegian center back, Ronny Johnsen; low, bending around the United wall, 1-1. But Sheringham, on as a substitute on 67 minutes for Sweden’s left winger, Jesper Blomqvist, headed the ball from Beckham’s cross down, across the goalmouth, where Solskjaer, known as ‘the baby faced assassin’, stuck out his foot, 2-1.
Marcus went on to win the 2023 League Cup with ten Hag, 2-0 against Newcastle United, ‘The Magpies’, on February 26th, with Netherlands’ center forward, Wout Weghorst, on a season’s loan from Burnley, since January 13th, starting. Wout, left and front of the 20 yard box, ball along the ground to Rashford; running on, left corner of the six yard box, lofting the ball, left-footed, over advancing German ‘keeper, Loris Karius, high into the top of the net: United’s second on 39 minutes.
Marcus would win the FA Cup again, this time against near neighbor, Manchester City, a year later; turning inside at the left touchline, crossing a high ball, right-footed, over to Garnacho on the right wing, bearing down on the right corner of the 20 yard box, finding Fernandes to his left, edge and center; a ball all along the ground. Bruno, similarly, slipping a first-time pass along the pitch, through to Mainoo, left of the six yard box. Kobbie, outside City ‘keeper Stefan Ortega’s penalty area, opposite the left post; passing, the ball to the German’s right: into the net, 2-0, on 39 minutes.
However, after the team lost at the Emirates Stadium of Islington’s Arsenal, ‘The Gunners’, 0-2, on December 4th, and at home to Nottingham Forest, 2-3, on December 7th, with Rashford coming on only for the last 30 minutes in each game, and the club having slipped to 13th place, before ultimately finishing 15th, on 42 points, Amorim summarily dropped him from the squad, citing ‘work rate’ as the issue; sending Marcus on loan to Aston Villa, ‘The Lions’, on February 2nd, 2025, until season’s end.
That backfired, with Marcus remaining joint top-scoring center forward, with Dane, Rasmus Højlund, also finishing on 4, despite the fact that the last of Rashford’s goals, (2) in 2024-25, were against Everton at home on December 1st, 4-0, while Rasmus had until May 25th, 2025, to get his 4, and a 27th April, 2025, goal at Bournemouth, ‘The Poppies’, 1-1, on 90+6 minutes, obviously representing a lot more effort, was it. That draw at Victoria Park was the second in 8 games; the other being goalless at home to Manchester City, on April 6th, 2025, with United losing 6, 4 without reply, before the Europa Cup Final, taking place after the last match of the regular season, at home to Villa, on May 25th, 2025, won 2-0. Losing 6 out of 8, and failing to score in 5, wasn’t adequate preparation.
Zirkzee finished the term on 3, his last league goals (2) of the season taken alongside strike-partner Rashford in that December 1st win over Everton, 4-0. Seemingly only a pulled hamstring, during training, keeping Marcus out of Villa’s losing FA Cup semi-final on April 26th, 2025, at Wembley, 0-3, to eventual winners, Crystal Palace, on May 17th, 2025, 1-0, against Manchester City, prevented a hero’s return, after Rashford’s 58th minute opening goal in the quarter final. Latching on to a fast grass-cutter, from French left back, Lucas Digne, across the 20 yard box, following a through ball from Belgian central midfielder, Youri Tielemans, that found Digne at its left corner, Marcus side-footed, right-footed, close to the penalty spot, along the turf, into the right corner of the net. It had the decisive impact in the March 30th, 2025, win over Preston North End (PNE), ‘The Northenders’, away at Deepdale, 3-0, with a Rashford penalty on 63 minutes, bottom right corner, low, sending ‘keeper, David Cornell, the wrong way, 2-0, pursuant to Preston’s Welsh left back, Andrew Hughes, back-heeling a kick at left wing, Morgan Rogers, at the right corner of the 20 yard box. However, injury left Marcus unable to face Spurs, or play in the latter stages of the Europa Cup; even if Ruben had relented, and recalled him to restore bite to the forward line, which he couldn’t.
Having seen ten Hag’s managerial suicide bid fulfilled, after his sale of McTominay to Naples, speculation at the Stretford End was that Marcus’ departure to Villa Park was Ruben’s own version of turning the gun upon himself. What was clear from ten Hag’s tenure was a move away from twin center forwards to inside forwards, with left sided players, or wingers, being deployed on the right, and vice versa; as it were a turning inwards upon the strikers’ ambition. The modern method was to use a lone center forward, supported by an inside left and right, in a way that resembled a spear thrust at goal.
Whereas previous United squads had been successful with left footed wingers on the left, and right footed wingers on the right, which widening of the pitch afforded twin strikers opportunities for plundering in the goalmouth from the crosses that came in, the modern model was inversion, with inverted wingers, like Amad, left footed, on the right, or Rashford, right footed, on the left, as inside forwards. That the left winger was right footed, and vice versa, might have looked curious to old-fashioned punters going through the turnstiles, but such inversions as inside forwards were spear-heading the future.
Ten Hag and Amorim envisioned wing backs in support of the strike force, a midfield of two, and three central defenders; effectively abandoning the full back concept in favor of center halves at left and right, and with a further central defender between them. The repercussions and ramifications were singular. Despite the old-fashioned ‘never say die’ efforts of center half, Harry Maguire, scorer of the equalizing headed goal, center of the six yard box, on 90+1 minutes, from Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen’s corner on the right, away in Portugal at FC Porto’s Estádio do Dragão, ‘the stadium of dragons’, 3-3, in the league stage of the Europa Cup, on October 3rd, 2024, and another winning headed goal, center right of the six yard box, on 120+1 minutes, from a ball stroked forward by Brazilian Casemiro, left of center midfield, half way inside the Lyon half, 5-4 (2-2), a.e.t., in the April 10th, 2025, Europa Cup quarter-final, second leg, at home to the French Ligue 1 club, aggregate 7-6, it was evident that United didn’t have the personnel, and not excluding center half Maguire, to keep the ball out of Onana’s net.
Tactically there’d been significant issues since Louis van Gaal, the Netherlands’ 2014 World Cup manager in Brazil, attempted to deploy the 1-3-4-3 formation at United, after his being appointed to replace failed former Everton manager, David Moyes, effectively inviting the sack, as Ferguson’s replacement for 2013-14, after losing on January 22nd, 2014, at home on penalties in the semi-final second leg of the League Cup to Sunderland, 2-1 (1-0), a.e.t., 3-3 aggregate, with central midfielder for Scotland, Darren Fletcher, the only successful spot kicker, 1-2.
Van Gaal’s appointment, following the Netherlands’ defeat of Canarinho, ’Little Canary’, Brazil, 3-0, at Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasilia, in the July 12th play off for third place overall, while Germany won the 13th July Final, 1-0, at Estádio Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, against Argentina, began the introduction and implementation of a system fraught with choosing the requirements of defensive adaptivity; mobile or static center backs: attacking or defensive wing backs.
Matteo Darmian, full back for Italy’s Azzurri, ‘The Blues’, and on June 14th, 2014, World Cup debuting at right back, in a defeat of England, 2-1, at Arena da Amazônia, Manaus, substituted for Argentine left back, Marcos Rojo, on 66 minutes, in van Gaal’s FA Cup winning team of 2016, after arriving for ₤12.7m on July 11th, 2015, from Torino FC, Turin, and later returned to Italy at Inter Milan, La Beneamata ‘The Well-Cherished One’, where he’d be a part of the squad that won Serie A in 2020-21, alongside ex-United greats; Armenia’s right wing and captain, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, winner of the League Cup and Europa Cup of 2017 with Mourinho; left wing and/or full back, Ashley Young, who’d been in the squad that won the 2012-13 title for Ferguson, # 13 in his retirement season; South America’s Chilean forward, Alexis Sánchez, who’d had what looked like a perfectly good equalizing goal ruled out for offside in the May 19th 2018 FA Cup Final, lost 0-1 to Chelsea, and Romelu Lukaku, who’d also played in that game for José.
Most notably, in the case of center back Chris Smalling’s sending off on 105 minutes for wrestling to the pitch Congo’s left wing, Yannick Bolasie, in the 2016 FA Cup Final, Darmian, on occasion, was deployed by van Gaal as a libero or ‘sweeper’, which is a possibility for a defensive wing back, called by the Italians terzino volante (or vagante); patrolling the rear. Either from the left wing back, or right wing back position, called vianema, the Italian sweeper system was named for Giuseppe Viani, manager in the 1940s of Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, ‘The Maroons’, Salerno, Campania, winners of Serie B in 1946-47.
If Amorim had the ‘door bolt’ system in mind, it’d been initially developed in the 1930s and 40s by Karl Rappan, Austrian manager of Swiss club, Servette FC, Geneva, and Switzerland’s national team; called catenaccio by the Italians’ smaller clubs. Using the withdrawn center back of three half backs between the full backs; leaving two in midfield: right and left halves. Primarily, ‘the ‘chain’ was a means of protecting younger players from injury in the brutal rigors of competition; as UEFA’s 2 regulation substitutes weren’t adopted by all members of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) until 1967-68. The future of wing backs at Manchester United was of a high degree of technical virtuosity unavailable to most defenders; of the type of full/wing back: or of the type of their center backs/wing halves.
Apart from the fact that the side would have to have a player of the quality of Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid, four European Cups and four World Club Cup doubles, in 2014, ‘16, ‘17, and ‘18, and the World Cup with Spain, La Furia Roja, ‘The Red Fury’, in 2010, 1-0 in the July 11th Final at Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa, against the Netherlands’ Oranje, at the center of their three at the back, they’d also need a variety of wing full backs, who could attack and/or defend, and fulfill the role of sweeper, as Darmian could; if that role wasn’t being fulfilled by the central back of the three.
If that was in the mind of Amorim, that’s what the club needed. A libero of the caliber of Ramos, or even better, Germany’s ‘Kaiser’, Franz Beckenbauer, captain of the Bundesliga’s three-time European Cup winners (1974, ‘75, and ‘76), Bayern Munich, ‘Star of the South’, and of the national side at their successful World Cup campaign of 1974, beating the Netherlands, 2-1, in the July 7th Final at Olympiastadion, Munich, while Jupp Hynckes, an unused substitute, watched the match from the bench.
A consummate defender, as well as a box-to-box midfield-striker, with the ‘free man’, centromediano metodista, ball winner, and deep lying playmaker, attacking, as Juvé manager Felice Borel (1942-46) used center back, Carlo Parola, after winning possession. The wing back, for example, Dalot, taking the sweeper’s role, center, and back, while the ‘free man’ roams upfield, presupposes a reconfiguration of sistema; team rotation: the Italian method. A further assault on the opposition goal, through the newly revised center; or re-entrenchment after scoring.
What’s presented is often a falsehood; three central defenders at the back: whereas they’re a half back line, which devotees of the United team of the 1960s that won the European Cup on May 29th 1968 against Benfica, 4-1 (1-1), a.e.t., at Wembley on May 29th, would appreciate. Bill Foulkes, at center half, was capped for England on October 2nd 1954 against Northern Ireland, 2-0, at Windsor Park, Belfast, County Antrim, as a right back, whereas Nobby Stiles, in the England team that beat Germany in the World Cup Final, 4-2 (2-2), a.e.t., on July 30th at Wembley in 1966, with Leeds United’s Jack Charlton, and captain Bobby Moore of West Ham as center backs, was a left half, as Scot, Paddy Crerand, was a right half in United’s ‘68 team, and is what’s expected in a sweeper system.
If left half and right half move up into midfield, as wing halves/inside forwards, left and right wing full backs remain with the center half; left back, center back, and right back. If the center half moves up, as a threatening ‘loose cannon’, the left, or right wing full back, moves up with him, and the other remains; three at the back; left half, right half, and full back/sweeper, which Foulkes’ position as center half, in the ‘68 side, presupposes, as United’s right back, in the 1950s.
The confusion amongst English coaches is the inability to recognize the fluidity of sistema, which is the Italians’ term for the English system, that is, the three at the back mutate from being left half, right half, and center half, to left back, right back, and center back, with variants; for example, five at the back, where the full backs are zonal defenders, and the half back line is similarly static.
Backs and halves have to be well coached to be adequate to their roles’ demands; if there’s a rotation of halves and backs. Although ‘three-at-the-back’ is usually presented as three center backs, it’s composed of a rotation of left and right wing full backs, half backs/inside forwards, and a deep lying center forward, like Leeds United’s Welshman John Charles, who enjoyed this center back/center forward role at Juventus, as Il Gigante Buono, ‘The Gentle Giant’, transferring for £65,000 for 1957-58, winning the scudetto with 29 goals, and again in 1959-60, with 11 goals, and 1960-61, with 16.
Amorim signaled his intentions with the purchase of ‘Dynamite’ Denmark’s left wing back/left back, Patrick Dorgu, on February 2nd, 2025, from Italian Serie A club Unione Sportiva Lecce, ‘The Wolves’, for £25m, which signal was reinforced, post-season, by the arrival from South America of left wing back/left back, Diego León, and Paraguay’s Primero División club, Cerro Porteño, ‘The Cyclone’, for £3m, on July 5th, 2025.
Although Ten Hag’s trio of Rashford, and Garnacho, didn’t succeed with Amorim, Højlund and Zirkzee were worse. Ruben’s solution was to spend big on improving his spear head, and Amad’s place in the team, despite his emergence as a left footed force to be reckoned with on the right, wasn’t guaranteed. Inside left, Brazilian Matheus Cunha, on June 12th, 2025, for £62.5m from Wolverhampton Wanderers, ‘Wolves’, where he netted 15 times in 2024-25; inside right, Cameroon’s Bryan Mbeumo, on July 21st, 2025, for £65m from West London club, Brentford, ‘The Bees’, Hounslow borough, ‘stinging’ 20 times in 2024-25, and Slovenia’s center forward, Benjamin Šeško, on August 9th, 2025, for £74m from German Bundesliga club, RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V., ‘The Red Bulls’, finding the net 13 times in 2024-25, duly arrived.
As an attacking wing back, Amad had reflected climate change. Ruben’s squad, with seven or more substitutes available for each outing, was beginning to look like those of American football in the United States, where ‘special teams’ played a large part in a coach’s thinking in getting to their season’s culminating Super Bowl. Amorim’s bringing on a defensive wing back for an attacking wing back, and moving the central defensive coordinator at the back, that is, the center half, up into midfield, was an option amongst several, with the fluidity afforded by insertions from the bench, and that future was now.
When United beat Merseysider’s Everton, 4-0, at home, on December 1st, 2024, with Rashford scoring twice, and the team at 9th place in the table, it was Amorim’s inexplicable decision to bench him that had resulted in subsequent successive defeats away to North London’s Arsenal, 0-2, on December 4th, 2025, and at home to Forest, 2-3, on December 7th, 2025, that saw the club slip to 13th, and eventually finish 15th. Over £200m, with add-on clauses, based on performance, was an awful lot of money to spend for someone whose judgment seemed that shaky, but only time could tell.
The majority of die-hard United fans felt that Alejandro’s scintillating zest as a winger should have starred against Spurs in the 2025 Europa Cup Final. Ruben preferred the midfield industry and guile of injury prone, Mason Mount, 5+9 appearances in 2023-24, and 8+9 in 2024-25, after being bought from Chelsea for 55m on July 5th, 2023, but then lately recovered from his most recent sojourn to the treatment room; though winger Alejandro finished the season with the second best total of league goals, 6, behind top scorers Bruno and Amad, with 8 apiece. As 6 wasn’t enough from McIlroy to prevent United’s relegation in 1973-74, with a total of 38 goals (-10), it’s arguable that Garnacho’s 6, creditable for a winger, was the difference between staying up and being relegated in 2024-25, with a total of 44 goals (-10).
Mount netted twice in the May 8th semi-final second leg defeat of Bilbao, Lehoiak, ‘The Lions’, 4-1, at Old Trafford, but the team had already done the job in Bilbao, winning there on May 1st, 3-0, with Garnacho starting, 23+13 league appearances that term; replaced only after 84 minutes by defensive midfielder Mainoo, as the players from the bench consolidated the win.
In the 72nd minute of the home leg, back to goal, turning a ball from French center back, Leny Yoro, inside the Bilbao penalty area, onto his left foot from his right, Mason holds it there. Spinning near the penalty spot, right-footed, finding the bottom right corner. Then again, the fourth of the night, on 90+1 minutes, aggregate 7-1. A long range shot, left-footed, from out on the left flank, catching Spanish ‘keeper, Julen Agirrezabala, off his line, pushing up, with Athletic Club seeking an impossible comeback. Ruben’s eye caught; and Alejandro’s out. Rejected, along with the other winners; McTominay and Rashford.
1 Mannion, Damian, ‘Arsenal’s Trophy Cabinet’, Talksport, Friday, October 26th, 2012, https://talksport.com/magazine/virals/121026/picture-arsenals-trophy-cabinet-redesigned-include-new-fourth-place-trop-183898 .
2 Santayana, George The Life of Reason, Vol. 1, Reason in Common Sense, 1905, p. 284.