How Much Time Does Ruben Amorim Have Left?

How Much Time Does Ruben Amorim Have Left?

Rúben Amorim arrived at Manchester United promising a fresh start, tactical clarity, and a rebuild after years of inconsistency. Nearly a year in, however, the numbers tell a worrying story: more games managed than points earned, a midfield still exposed, and a fanbase growing restless. Pre-season cohesion and flashes of attacking promise hint at progress, but for a club of United’s stature, results are the ultimate measure. With the transfer window closing and his system under scrutiny, the question looms large: how much time does Amorim really have left?

Ruben Amorim has managed more games than points collected with Man United 😳 pic.twitter.com/oF8Iuc7OwF

— OneFootball (@OneFootball) August 24, 2025

A Manager Already Under Scrutiny

Rúben Amorim has now managed more games than he has points on the board at Manchester United. That statistic alone is enough to raise eyebrows in an era where results are often the only currency that buys time in the dugout. His appointment was sold as a fresh start – an injection of tactical clarity and progressive football after a period of drift – but patience is not a virtue United managers have been afforded in the past decade.

The second-half collapse against Fulham yesterday added to those concerns. For all the talk of improved spirit during pre-season and the sense that players had bonded more closely as a group, what unfolded at Craven Cottage felt uncomfortably familiar. United were overrun in midfield, exposed down the flanks, and looked vulnerable at set-pieces – hallmarks of last season’s failings that Amorim was supposed to eradicate. While there have been glimpses of improvement across the first two league games, the reality is he will be judged not on better performances but on results.

The question therefore is not whether Amorim has ideas worth pursuing – but whether he will be given the time to see them through. Recent history suggests the margin for error is slim.

24.1% - Ruben Amorim now has a Premier League win percentage of 24.1% (7 wins in 29 games), the exact same percentage as Neil Warnock (won 27 of 112 games), who was twice relegated from the Premier League. Worry. pic.twitter.com/4HfNUTncRv

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 24, 2025

Comparisons With Those Who Came Before

A glance at United’s managerial churn since Sir Alex Ferguson offers a sobering reminder of how little patience exists at Old Trafford. David Moyes took over a team that had ended the previous campaign as Premier League champions, yet he won just 50% of his games in charge. Sacked four games before the end of the 2013/14 season, United limped to a seventh-place finish – their lowest of the Premier League era at that time.

Louis van Gaal managed 76 games, backed in the transfer market with signings including the British record arrival of Ángel Di María, and led the side back into the Champions League at the first attempt. Despite winning 51% of his games and lifting the FA Cup, dissatisfaction with his pragmatic style and the failure to secure a top-four finish saw him dismissed at the end of his second season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær was brought back in December 2018 to steady the ship, initially on an interim basis. A remarkable bounce in form saw him handed the job permanently, and his three-and-a-half-year spell became the longest of any coach in the post-Ferguson era. Across 109 games, Solskjær maintained a 51% win rate, guiding United to a runners-up finish in the Premier League in 2020/21, though silverware remained elusive.

Erik ten Hag arrived in 2021 following consecutive Eredivisie titles and a Champions League semi-final with Ajax. Over 85 games, the Dutchman won 52% of matches, securing the League Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024. However, a failure to significantly improve United’s Premier League form and the club’s worst-ever start to a season saw his contract terminated in October 2024.

José Mourinho, appointed in 2016 to replace Van Gaal, brought a decorated record, having won three Premier League titles across two spells at Chelsea. He broke the world transfer record to sign Paul Pogba, and his debut campaign delivered a League Cup and Europa League double. Despite finishing second in the 2017/18 Premier League, United were 19 points behind the leaders, and Mourinho was sacked in December 2018, finishing with a 54% win rate from 93 games.

Amorim’s early numbers do not compare favourably to any of them. By the same stage, both Mourinho and Van Gaal had accumulated far more points. Solskjær’s football often blew hot and cold but at least delivered a clear uplift when he first took charge. Even Ten Hag, despite some dismal away defeats, had United looking more coherent in possession. Amorim is still searching for that balance, and the concern is whether the same cracks that appeared for his predecessors will re-emerge once the pressure ramps up.

Even compared to Gary Neville, whose 28-game spell at Valencia is remembered as one of the worst managerial performances in modern European football, Amorim’s early numbers are concerning. Neville managed 28 matches in La Liga, winning 10, drawing seven, and losing 11, which gave him 37 points at an average of 1.32 per game. By contrast, Amorim has overseen 29 Premier League matches, winning just seven, drawing seven, and losing 15, leaving him with 28 points and a points-per-game average of 0.97. While the contexts are different, the comparison underscores the severity of United’s struggles under his stewardship and why scrutiny has been so immediate.

History also shows United rarely dither when doubts creep in. Moyes was dismissed before completing a full season, while Mourinho was cut loose before Christmas in year three. If results fail to turn quickly, Amorim could easily find himself caught in that same cycle.

A Tactical System Under Question

What compounds the concern is that Amorim’s system is already being questioned in public. After Fulham’s victory, Alex Iwobi noted that his side knew how to exploit the gaps behind United’s two central midfielders, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro. That insight will hardly have gone unnoticed by other Premier League sides. United’s midfield looked exposed and easy to play through, and the lack of legs in that area remains a glaring issue.

The absence of Kobbie Mainoo only deepens the frustration. One of United’s brightest young talents, Mainoo remains on the periphery despite showing last season that he could offer precisely the kind of ball-carrying and defensive cover the side is crying out for. Amorim has leaned heavily on experience so far, but the clamour for Mainoo’s involvement is only growing.

There are reasons for optimism. Pre-season suggested this is a group more unified than in recent years, while new signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have already injected energy and attacking thrust. Yet for all those green shoots, United’s inability to translate promise into results leaves Amorim treading a fine line. The improvements are there, but the same defensive lapses risk undermining any sense of progress.

🚨🗣 - Alex Iwobi saying it here that they targeted and exploited our midfield:

"We knew we would be able to get behind their two midfielders."

Say whatever you want, we'll keep struggling if we don't sign a good and athletic midfielder this summer.
pic.twitter.com/cAWnrMqSMi

— UF (@UtdFaithfuls) August 25, 2025

The Crucial Weeks in the Transfer Market

If Amorim is to steady the ship, the final weeks of the transfer window could prove pivotal. Two areas in particular demand urgent attention: goalkeeper and midfield. Altay Bayındır has come under the microscope, with opponents increasingly targeting him from set-pieces and dead-ball situations. Corners, free-kicks and even long throw-ins are now being seen as opportunities to unsettle United’s back line, and unless that weakness is addressed, it threatens to become a recurring problem.

Midfield is an even more pressing concern. United pursued Carlos Baleba earlier in the summer but were told he was not for sale, and Crystal Palace’s valuation of Adam Wharton has left the club priced out of a deal. Yet the need for a midfielder with legs, the ability to carry the ball from deep, and the defensive awareness to protect the back four has never been clearer. Casemiro’s lack of mobility is being exposed, and without reinforcements, Amorim risks being undermined before his ideas have had time to take root.

Cunha and Mbeumo have shown promise across the opening fixtures and should only grow into the side, but that will not be enough on its own. Recruitment has been United’s Achilles’ heel for more than a decade, and unless the right profiles are secured before the window closes, Amorim will be left short in the very areas that are exposing his system. The transfer market, then, could go a long way to determining just how much time he has left.

Time Is the Ultimate Judge

In the end, Amorim’s future hinges on a brutal reality: performances may show incremental progress, but results will define his tenure. Two games is far too small a sample size to reach definitive conclusions, yet the familiar pattern of bright moments undone by lapses in concentration is one United cannot afford to let fester.

History suggests the club will not hesitate to act if the slide continues. For now, Amorim retains the dressing room, has introduced promising new signings, and benefits from a fanbase willing – at least for the moment – to grant him patience. But with the bar for success set by United’s own turbulent past decade, the margins are painfully thin.

Amorim does not just need time; he needs results that prove he deserves it.