Ruben Amorim has had a difficult start at Manchester United, having won just five of his 16 Premier League games so far
Slaven Bilic believes Ruben Amorim is not at fault for his system not working at Manchester United. But instead, claims that those who appointed him are.
The Portuguese manager has had a difficult start at the club and things continued to get bad to worse last weekend, as the Reds bowed out of the FA Cup with a defeat to Fulham on penalties. This week in the Europa League, they drew 1-1 to Real Sociedad in the first leg of the round of 16.
In the Premier League, they sit 14th after just five wins in 16 games since Amorim took over from Erik ten Hag last November. Appearing on talkSPORT’s ‘The Line Up,’ Bilic stressed the 40-year-old is not the one to blame for his nightmare start.
Amorim has been widely criticised for playing with a preferred 3-4-2-1 formation which favours wing-backs. However, that hasn’t been so straight forward as he does not currently have the right group of players to play in that formation.
“I mean what’s the point?,” Bilic questioned. “I defend every manager, but if you don’t have wing backs then why [play that way]?When I watch Man United, Man United never played with three at the back.
“They have always played with good fullbacks and good wingers. Always. But now, if you don’t have the players, then what’s the point?”
The Croatian manager then used Arne Slot’s Liverpool example to compare the success the Dutch is having at Anfield. “Liverpool – Klopp is going, then the people who are making decisions at Liverpool said: ‘Who are we going to appoint? Who is a good solution for us?
“Who plays similar to Liverpool’s style, to Anfield, to Klopp? Arne Slot is a guy in Feyenoord who is very similar.’ Now when you appoint Amorim, you know how Amorim is going to play. So it’s not his fault, it’s the fault of the people who appointed him. They knew he plays with wing backs!
“When you are good at something and you believe in something and you [think]: ‘That’s me, that’s how I play. I did well with Sporting, that’s what brought me to Manchester United, why should I change it?’ And you believe in that and it doesn’t start well, you lose one, [you think]: ‘Okay next one, we’re going to win.’”
With that said, Bilic believes Amorim can still be successful in the English top-flight. “I told you before, he proved himself,” the former Watford boss added.
“He’s new in the Premier League, but Ruben Amorim did a job [at Sporting], and he didn’t win one title in one year and then maybe you were lucky, or Benfica and Porto had a year off. No, he did it twice in three years, so it can’t be luck. You need luck, but it can’t only be luck. So give him time, he’s gonna do it. But now at the moment, he’s struggling.”
