Man Utd manager Ruben Amorim
A Manchester United journalist has lambasted the club and its many failings this season, with Ruben Amorim’s side branded the worst for 50 years at Old Trafford.
It’s been another tawdry season for Man Utd thus far, with new manager Ruben Amorim unable to stem the flow of rotten results. Man Utd lost their third game on the spin on Sunday when sinking to a 2-0 defeat at Wolves. The loss was Amorim’s fifth in 10 matches and the Portuguese’s post-match comments made it crystal clear he knows his team are in a dark place.
“In this moment we just have to survive and to win some time to work on the team,” said Amorim.
“We already knew it. I started this job, with the team, the new idea, without any time to train, with a lot of tough games.
“It is a long journey. We have to continue to fight these bad moments. We need time to work. We also have to win games to sell the idea to the players. If not, it is really hard.”
One figure within the media who seemingly lacks any belief Amorim can turn Man Utd around is Manchester Evening News journalist, Samuel Luckhurst.
Luckhurst never shies away from sticking the boot into the Red Devils and was previously banned from attending the club’s press conferences in December of 2023.
And on the back of United’s latest defeat to Wolves, Luckhurst teed off in a remarkable column in the MEN.
Luckhurst’s headline read: ‘This is why this is the worst Manchester United team in 50 years.’
The United side referenced from half a century ago was managed by Tommy Docherty and suffered relegation to the second tier in the 1973/74 season.
Justifying his eye-catching headline, the reporter wrote: ‘This is such an execrable Manchester United side that relegation was alluded to at Ruben Amorim’s post-match press conference at Wolves.
‘United is the club where anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Within a week, they have lost three matches, sieved nine goals, exited a cup competition, plummeted to 14th, a ceiling in their stadium started leaking mid-press conference and Old Trafford’s hygiene rating was downgraded. They are so bad they are now making Marcus Rashford look good.
‘Wolves, at one stage in the bottom three during the Boxing Day fixtures, have already enjoyed a new manager bounce of consecutive Premier League wins. United have not won back-to-back league games since May.
‘Every fixture for United is treacherous but they are about to come up against two demonstrably better teams in Newcastle United and Liverpool. Lose those and United may well be teetering above the relegation zone more than halfway through the season.
‘No wonder Amorim, whose command of English is so impeccable he understood the relegation reference without mention of the ‘r’ word, said United have to “survive”.’
Three Man Utd players savaged
Luckhurst then fixed his gaze on Andre Onana, Bruno Fernandes and Rasmus Hojlund for the parts they played in United’s defeat to Wolves.
‘United are literal pushovers,’ continued Luckhurst. ‘Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Bournemouth and Wolves have exposed them from set plays. If Andre Onana was as aggressively front-footed confronting the referee as he was from Matheus Cunha’s corner he may have caught the ball.
‘If Bruno Fernandes channelled his energy into probing passes more than pointless protests he would not be United’s card shark. A captain who had never seen red before this season has been expelled three times and his foul on Nelson Semedo amounted to a dereliction of duty.
‘The feebleness of this United side was apparent at the other end. Rasmus Hojlund, over-promoted as a £72million striker when he is a sub striker not in Javier Hernandez’s class, eschewed duels with centre backs, such was the physical mismatch.
‘Hojlund has two goals in the league this season. He rarely has his shooting boots on and one of them came off at Molineux. Wolves had the ball and rather than rush, Hojlund pulled it back on as leisurely as Dimitar Berbatov would have.’
Man Utd’s last chance to salvage their season
With the Red Devils sitting in 14th and fixtures with Newcastle and Liverpool up next, Luckhurst suggested relegation is a likelier outcome than European qualification.
The FA Cup – as it did last season – could offer United a chance at redemption. However, the draw has not been kind, with United travelling to the Emirates to face Arsenal in Round Three.
As such, Luckhurst noted the Europa League is shaping up to be United’s last hope of sparing their blushes this term. Amid the new format across the three main European competitions, Champions League sides will no longer drop down into the Europa League.
‘This season is Europa League or bust for United,’ added the MEN reporter. ‘They are fortunate the new Europa League format has been so diluted in quality that its two favourites are United and Tottenham, two English clubs in complete disarray. Spurs have lost more games than United.
‘There will be no Champions League sides tumbling down to the Europa for the knockout stage and no Sevilla to continue their love affair with the competition. The Europa League is an eminently winnable competition for a terrible team.’
As in previous seasons, the winners of the Europa League will still qualify for the following season’s Champions League.
Latest Man Utd news – Osimhen EXCL / Big Rashford clue
In other news, transfer insider Rudy Galetti exclusively revealed to TEAMtalk that Man Utd recently made a fresh enquiry into the signing of Victor Osimhen.
However, no further steps have been taken since then and United do not expect to sign the Galatasaray loanee in January. What’s more, Osimhen is more than happy to see out the second half of his season-long loan spell in Turkey.
Elsewhere, Amorim has dropped what The Mirror described as the ‘clearest indication yet that Marcus Rashford has played his final game for Manchester United.’
Rashford was overlooked for inclusion in Amorim’s matchday squads for the fourth straight game on Thursday.
Asked post-match about Rashford’s continued omissions, Amorim said: “It’s always the same reason it’s going to be.
“We have to be the same professionals, the same guys, winning or losing. Losing, I have to be stronger. I will continue with my idea until the end.”
Asked if Rashford had shown signs of changing since being left out, Amorim gave a blunt answer: “If he’s not here, you can make your mind up.”
