Man Utd are proving to be inconsistent this season and that is a major problem for under pressure head coach Ruben Amorim
Ruben Amorim channelled his inner Gennaro Gattuso when discussing why Manchester United have been unable to take advantage of a couple of opportunities recently to move into the top five in the Premier League, only he did so without the expletive the Italian memorably opted for.
“Sometimes we play good, sometimes we play bad,” said Amorim, matter-of-factly and truthfully. It wasn’t far from Gattuso’s “sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe…”, well, you get the gist now. It has since been turned into an iconic and widely used meme.
It’s unlikely Amorim’s blunt dissection of United’s form will get the meme treatment, but it’s a worryingly accurate representation of the team he is in charge of. The reason United aren’t fifth is that they play poorly as often as they play well.
That much is clear in the failure to put any kind of consistent run together in his nearly 13 months in charge of the club. Three-game winning runs in January and October remain the gold standard.
United have had presentable chances to get themselves higher than eighth in this table, but every time they seem to take a step forward, they just as quickly regress.
They were five unbeaten when they conspired to lose at home against 10-man Everton. They had just won at Crystal Palace, becoming the first team to beat them at Selhurst Park in the Premier League since February, when they turned in a dire performance against West Ham.
That kind of inconsistency is clearly beginning to infuriate Amorim, who found it especially difficult to hide his emotions after the game on Thursday night. He knows this kind of form is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It’s ingraining an idea that his reign is going nowhere, or in a more generous interpretation, isn’t going anywhere fast enough. He is more than a year in now, but still results and performances like those against Everton and West Ham are too common.
That is something Amorim really needs to stamp out. In a low-scoring sport susceptible to moments of fortune, results will always come and go to a degree. You can only stack the odds in your favour by delivering performances, but too many of United’s recent performances offer no hint of a brighter future.
That needs to change. They head to Molineux on Monday to face a Wolves side who are flirting with the possibility of being the Premier League’s worst ever and only a win will do. But as much as they need the three points, they also need a convincing display.
After that is an out-of-form Bournemouth team. A trip to Aston Villa is laced with difficulty but home games against Newcastle and Wolves offer the possibility of a strong finish to the year.
The problem is that it’s proving impossible to predict United’s performance levels, and therefore their results. They should win all three home games against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves, but many Old Trafford regulars will be raising eyebrows at that statement and expecting a draw or defeat somewhere in there.
Amorim’s blunt analysis was spot on. United are sometimes good, and they are sometimes bad. But that isn’t good enough.
