Ruben Amorim wants to stay at Man Utd for 20 years – first he must last 20 weeks

Telegraph

8 hours ago

Ruben Amorim recently made the bold announcement that he wants to stay at Manchester United for 20 years. His first task going into his season-opener against Arsenal is ensuring he lasts longer than 20 weeks.
Week one's marquee Premier League fixture could be a blessing and a curse for Amorim and Mikel Arteta – two coaches under pressure for vastly different reasons at varied stages of their managerial careers. The outcome will set an instantly upbeat or pessimistic tone.
You could be forgiven for thinking Amorim is under less pressure than Arteta on Sunday afternoon. United are starting from such a low base, if they finish in the top six it will be a huge improvement.
Building a team to win the Premier League is considerably harder than spending £200m to take a side from 15th to European qualification, which is the first priority at Old Trafford over the next eight months.
Arteta, meanwhile, finds himself in the same territory as a year ago, with the demand to make the final step from second to first intensifying. For Arsenal, it feels like any early setback has the potential to cause an implosion as the frustrations of the past few years spill over.
The immediate expectation upon Arteta is to prove he can be a Premier League winner; the immediate expectation upon Amorim is to prove he is a Premier League-standard manager.
This is the blunt reality of the two clubs' current standing. Arsenal supporters will help their manager and players by remembering this cold fact: if United reach Arsenal's current level in the next five years – absorbing three successive seasons competing for the title – Amorim will have performed brilliantly well.
Arteta needs to make sure he does not become a victim of the higher standards he has set.
United and Arsenal have been heading in opposite directions for a while, and only one goes into this campaign with a chance of becoming champions. From a coaching perspective, Amorim has far more convincing to do than Arteta.
At his previous clubs, Braga and Sporting Lisbon, his win rate was more than 70 per cent. At United, it is 40 per cent. More worryingly, he has lost 17 of his 42 matches in charge. It does not matter how challenging the circumstances or how imbalanced the squad he inherited, that is horrendous for a club of such stature.
United's problems were well documented before his arrival and during his difficult period in charge. The lack of solutions left me wondering last May if it would have been better for all concerned to shake hands and admit the partnership was not working.
That view was based in part on the noises coming out of Old Trafford before the climax of the season, which made it sound like United's immediate future depended on winning the Europa League and getting back into Uefa's top tier. Sir Jim Ratcliffe was stressing the need to slash budgets and raise ticket prices to avoid an economic meltdown.
It's laughable he could say that and then a few months later United were doing what they have been doing for years – spending big to revamp their squad. To say the least, there have been mixed messages, and it remains to be seen how much of a financial gamble the club have taken to get so many deals over the line.
For sure, United will go into the Arsenal match as underdogs. Beyond the first game, Amorim knows United will always be expected to dominate most opponents and be much higher up the table.
Similarly, Arteta will be aware that there will be little in the way of a broader perspective judging his work if Arsenal get off to a bad start, which is possible given their challenging early fixtures.
The suggestion Arteta 'must' win the title this year to validate his Arsenal reign is inevitable, but also unfair. Finishing above Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea will be incredibly difficult. If Arsenal challenge for top spot, finish second again and reach the latter stages of the Champions League, would it truly be justified replacing the manager?
The minimum requirement for Arsenal, as it should be for all those wishing to become champions, is to be competitive, putting themselves in a position where they get to March and can still win it.
It is fair to say Arsenal have stood still for the last three years as they have finished runners-up, but the idea that 'first is everything and second is nothing' is more dramatic than accurate in their case.
No sensible boardroom is going to contemplate sacking a coach who is leading his side into every season capable of competing for the top honours. Tough as it is to ride any waves of criticism or anger after setbacks, the Arsenal board need work only to their own timeline, not one that has been invented externally.
Arteta will need to lift a major trophy at some point, but the moment for Arsenal to worry or supporters to lose faith is when there are signs they are going backwards. There is no reason to believe they will this season given the squad additions.
There are a few worrying signs that the pressure is being ramped up and has the potential to become overwhelming, however. My observation during pre-season is that one of Arsenal's biggest threats could be to themselves.
It was surprising to hear about a section of fans booing when Arsenal lost a pre-season friendly to Villarreal. If they carry the baggage of recent near-misses, it will be self-defeating. Pre-season is about conditioning and experimentation, not results. You take the positives from wins, and brush off the significance of defeats because it really does not matter.
Arteta's pre-season altercation with Tottenham defender Pedro Porro was another sign that the coach will be heading into this season wanting maximum intensity on and off the pitch. It remains to be seen if that is energising or energy-sapping.
The battle of the strikers at Old Trafford also makes for a significant sub-plot as we assess how well-equipped the respective teams look. For a prolonged period, it seemed like Arteta was keen to sign Benjamin Sesko. It appears that Arsenal's sporting director, Andrea Berta, was instrumental in securing Victor Gyokeres, a striker who Amorim managed at Sporting Lisbon and must have been keen to work with again.
At 22, Sesko fits the profile of younger players prioritised by the top recruiters. Arsenal's scouts must believe 27-year-old Gyokeres is more of a finished product, ready to instantly deliver to find the goals which could have made the difference in the past three years.
Sesko versus Gyokeres is therefore a symbol of the broader assumptions around United and Arsenal, or Amorim and Arteta.
One side feels like they have time and space to slowly and steadily improve, while the other is under orders to hit the ground running.