2025-09-29 12:05:31
Ruben Amorim did something “alarming” during Manchester United’s defeat at Brentford, says Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer.
The “alarming” thing that Amorim did was try to manage a Premier League match. As usual, it didn’t go well, and Man Utd are now 14th in the table.
Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Brentford was Man Utd’s 21st defeat in 49 games under the Portuguese head coach.
Brentford took a two-goal lead before Benjamin Sesko halved the deficit with his first goal for the club.
Bruno Fernandes had a second-half penalty saved by Caoimhin Kelleher and the Bees went on to score another through Mathias Jensen.
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Amorim’s stubbornness with his 3-4-2-1 system has attracted serious criticism during his Man Utd tenure, with some of his in-game management also coming under intense scrutiny.
Shearer picked up on his scattergun approach to staging a comeback and was in disbelief at how many changes he made in terms of players in positions, all while sticking with his beloved formation that clearly isn’t working.
A lack of adaptability, or desire to adapt, will be what costs Amorim his job, Shearer has said. And the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer has labeled his tactics against Keith Andrews’ side as “alarming”.
He said on The Rest is Football podcast: “It was alarming what he was doing, moving so many different players around.
“Micah [Richards] said it on Match of the Day…the subs he brings on, moving right-centre-back into centre-back, middle of centre-back into left-centre-back.
“Then [Bryan] Mbeumo was right-wing-back. And then Mason Mount came on as a 10 for four minutes. Then he brought [Joshua] Zirkzee on, and then moved Mount to left-wing-back.
“It’s like, goodness me, what on earth is happening here? It’s incredible.”
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Gary Lineker added: “I think Micah put it very well when he said, ‘I know footballers are supposed to be able to adapt’, and you can adapt, but that many changes which alter everything, players in completely different positions in the same game is going to lead to confusion.”
Shearer concluded: “In exactly the same system.”
Amorim is unsurprisingly the odds-on favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked.
He was neck and neck with Graham Potter before West Ham dismissed him on Saturday, replacing him with Nuno Espirito Santo.
In terms of replacements for Man Utd boss Amorim, Xavi Hernandez has been linked, while Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner is unsurprisingly admired.
Xavi has been out of work since leaving Barcelona at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
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