The Ruben Amorim meltdown and a Back 3 stubbornness that led to the latest exit at Manchester United

When Portuguese Ruben Amorim came to Manchester United as head coach, he was hailed as the man who would turn things around at the club. A true trailblazer who would take United back to the very top after years of mediocrity. But in just a little over a year, United’s ‘child of destiny’ became the next casualty like a long list of coaches before him as the club continues to chase the proverbial white whale when it comes to managerial appointments.

Before coming to the Theatre of Dreams back in November 2024, Amorim had helped Sporting CP win the Primeira Liga twice, the first of which was the club’s first title in 19 years. He was just 39 at that time and was even courted as Pep Guardiola’s replacement when the Spaniard was ready to give up the keys to the Manchester City kingdom. But United swooped in and bagged his signature on a contract that ran until June 2027 with a club option of an additional year. The reign ended much before that as the fresh-faced Amorim seemed to have aged 20 more years due to the intense pressure that came with being associated with a club like United.

The Portuguese had a tough start as Manchester United coach with Amorim having to make do with the squad left by predecessor Erik ten Hag which was not really ideal for his style of play- a fluid 3-4-3 which would morph into 3-4-2-1 or 3-2-5 when on the attack. In the 2024/25 season, he oversaw 27 matches for the club and won only 7 of them which saw United end the campaign at 15th, their worst league position since the 1989-90 season. They even lost a Europa League final to Tottenham in a match which would have put insomniacs to sleep.

1 – In the Premier League, Rúben Amorim had the worst win ratio (32%), the worst goals conceded per game ratio (1.53) and the lowest clean ratio (15%) of any Manchester United manager. Coach. pic.twitter.com/oZMVat44Us

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 5, 2026

But ahead of the 2025/26 season, United fans and the board still saw a glimmer of hope as this would be the first full season Amorim would be in charge. Straight off the bat, United overhauled their attack as a misfiring Rasmus Hojlund, an uninspired Marcus Rashford and problem child Alejandro Garnacho were all moved on. In their place came forwards Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko as well as goalie Senne Lammens in place of an error-prone Andre Onana as United splashed £225m on new signings in the summer. Would that improve United?

In the beginning though, it did not. As Amorim insisted on playing with his 3-4-2-1 formation with 3 defenders at the back, United started the campaign with just 1 win from the first 5 matches in all competitions. It included a shock loss to fourth-tier Grimsby Town which resulted in United getting eliminated from the EFL Cup in just the 2nd round. They also got hammered by Manchester City and lost to Arsenal as well.

Manchester United’s head coach Ruben Amorim reacts after Leicester’s Bobby Decordova-Reid scored the opening goal during the English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Manchester United and Leicester City at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, file)

United eventually found a rhythm to their play as the season wore on, even defeating reigning champions Liverpool 2-1 in one of the most memorable results under Amorim. After losing to Brentford at the fag end of September, United went on an unbeaten run of 5 matches before losing to Everton on November 25. They would then go unbeaten for 4 matches before losing again to Aston Villa on December 21.

When Amorim had started his tenure, he had talked about giving an identity to the way United played. In order to give them the identity, Amorim wanted to persist with his formation where they played a back three which wasn’t suited for the players he had at his disposal. Even though he got some results to go in his favour, a weak backline more often than not led to his team conceding goals.

However, with the departure of players like Mbuemo and Amad Diallo to the Africa Cup of Nations and notable injury problems to captain Bruno Fernandes and defender Matthijs de Ligt as well as midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, Amorim for one match showed that he was willing to adapt to the team’s strength when he started the match vs Newcastle with a back 4 which United ended up winning 1-0. But in the next match against Wolves, he went to his tried and tested method of playing 3 at the back, drawing the match 1-1 with United struggling to break down the bottom-placed side.

🚨Amorim 💣 EXPLOSIVE post match interview today after the Leeds game.

— UtdTunnel. 🔴 (@unitedtunnel) January 4, 2026

In his last match as the United manager where they drew 1-1 with 16th place side Leeds, Amorim went on an unbelievable rant where he hinted that he did not get the necessary backing from the club. “I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United, and that is clear. I know that my name is not (Thomas) Tuchel, it’s not (Antonio) Conte, it’s not (Jose) Mourinho, ‌but I’m the manager of Manchester United. It’s going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decides to change,” Amorim said to reporters on Sunday.

That was the final straw that ended up breaking the proverbial camel’s back. As per Sky Sports, in a meeting with director of football Jason Wilcox on Monday, Amorim’s responses were what the United hierarchy felt was very negative and emotional. This, coupled with United’s higher-ups feeling there was little to no progression under his tenure even though the club was placed 6th in the table, led to his sacking. He left the club having had the worst win ratio (32%), the worst goals conceded per game ratio (1.53) and the lowest clean sheet ratio (15%) of any Manchester United manager, as per Opta.