Sport
Parallel Projects: Amorim and Potter Under Scrutiny
When Ruben Amorim welcomes Graham Potter’s West Ham United to Old Trafford on Sunday, there will be nothing riding on the match. Two of the Premier League’s biggest under-performers will be licking their wounds and fulfilling a fixture neither will really want to play.
The home side should have the Europa League final on their minds, provided they can maintain their three-goal advantage over Athletic Club in the second leg of their semi. It is expected they’ll meet Tottenham, the other club to have majorly missed their domestic targets under Ange Postecoglou. It is a last chance saloon for both to salvage their seasons; with both entrenched in the bottom half of the table, alongside West Ham, there is an argument that winning the trophy and qualifying for the Champions League will only paper over some very deep cracks.
West Ham are obviously no strangers to European success themselves, having won the Europa Conference League in 2023. But unlike with Spurs and Postecoglou, both United’s are not piling pressure on their respective managers. Ruben Amorim and Graham Potter arrived this season as the men charged with cleaning up the mess of their predecessors and there is an understanding of what they’ve inherited and it will take time to fix.
Amorim and Potter have distinct styles of play which differ greatly from Erik ten Hag and Julen Lopetegui respectively, so they’ve been afforded time to implement them. The 3-4-3 Amorim had so much success with at Sporting has clearly jarred with the Manchester United squad, while West Ham’s huge summer splurge on players like Niclas Fulkrug, Crysensio Summerville and Jean-Clair Todibo plainly hasn’t worked. But both were expected to make greater impacts than they have; although Europe is clearly the focus for Amorim, the fact his side have only beaten Fulham outside of the relegated teams, while being regularly thrashed against the likes of Newcastle United and Brentford, is turning heads in his direction, and not in a good way.
Manchester United fans have always directed their anger at those above the manager, predominantly the Glazer family and latterly Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who bought a 25% stake in the club and took control of football operations last season. Amorim is still very much favoured by the masses who understand how the issues run deeper than the dugout. Even when Ten Hag was sacked earlier in the campaign, having been expected to leave at the end of the last one before beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, there was a mix of acceptance that change was needed and refusal to pin all the blame on him. Given how close Ratcliffe came to sacking the Dutchman, it was odd to back him with hefty spending in the summer and worsen the issue of handing Amorim a squad which does not suit him.
Amorim will be judged next season once he has had time to mould the squad in his image. Although the fans are still very much onside, the media is beginning to question him; despite everything, more structure and development of his ideals were expected at this stage. The team he has is better than treading water just above the relegation spots, albeit with a points difference that protected them from any serious danger. Because the team is struggling and others are being held accountable, once he does get a summer window to get his ideas across further, there may be little room for error. A slow start next season might be difficult for him to recover from.
The same situation sums up where Potter is at West Ham, too. Right now, he is finding his best team and attempting to get his philosophy across. Lopetegui’s work undid what was a very sound job done by David Moyes, but fans want to see a more exciting, progressive brand of football. Potter is known for that having worked well at Brighton before getting the Chelsea job, where it is widely accepted he was given a bad hand. While he arrived at West Ham with his reputation very much in tact, he knows that a second failure at Premier League level will do some damage, and so far he isn’t exactly setting the world alight.
He’ll be given the summer to get it going, but like Amorim, eyes are on him and quiet dissent is growing. Next season, people may not be as forgiving, and that will start almost instantly.
Perhaps the narrative that this season doesn’t matter, at least domestically, has set in for both Amorim and Potter. It is true that tougher questions will follow, but they have underwhelmed so far; they’ll need momentum heading into the new campaign when the real judgement starts, and Sunday is a great place to get it.
