RUBEN Amorim already has the look of a man with regrets. Just three months ago, he was considered one of the best young managers in European football. Now, he is at the wheel of a sinking ship with Manchester United slipping deeper and deeper into trouble near the bottom of the Premier League table.

Of course, Amorim isn’t to blame for the wider issues being experienced at Old Trafford. Years of mismanagement on and off the pitch have brought United to their current sorry state. The situation might be graver than Amorim fully appreciated when he took the job, but he knew he would have a reconstruction job on his hands.

Amorim, however, is making things worse. Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur highlighted this with Manchester United limited by the tactical approach of their new manager. Teething problems were to be expected as Amorim started the remoulding process, but the Portuguese has so far lacked the ideas to get more out of his players.

Tottenham, of course, have had their own troubles this season. Against United, though, they were relatively comfortable, particularly in the centre of the pitch where Spurs always had an overload. This was due to Amorim’s insistence on using a back four with wing backs, leaving United one short in central midfield.

This weakness was highlighted to an even greater extent with Casemiro as one half of the double pivot. The Brazilian is one of the best to have ever played in his position, but he has faded rapidly as a physical force since making the move to Manchester United. He’s no longer the player he was at Real Madrid.

Amorim could compensate for this by switching to a back four and giving United another body in the centre of the pitch. However, the 40-year-old is seemingly wedded to the 3-4-2-1 formation that worked for him at Sporting CP, but has nothing so far for his new team. Manchester United are suffering as a result. More teams will expose them between now and the end of the season.

Since arriving from Sporting CP in November, only five teams have earned fewer points in the Premier League than Amorim’s United. Of all the managers Manchester United have had in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson age, Amorim has the lowest win percentage (45%) after 20 matches. There has been the opposite of a ‘new manager bounce.’

Only the bottom three and Everton have scored fewer goals than United this season. For a club that once prided itself on its attacking prowess, this is a stark fact. Slightly better defensive numbers under Amorim compared to Erik ten Hag haven’t made up for the loss of attacking threat in the final third.

“I have a lot of problems, my job is so, so hard here, but I stick with my beliefs,” said Amorim after the loss to Spurs. “We need to stop focusing on the big picture. Just focus on the next game. Let’s do everything to finish the season well and then think about the big picture. That is our goal. In this moment it’s about not even looking at the table or the schedule. That is my part.”

The problem for Amorim is that his beliefs don’t seem to relate to principles, but a formation and an approach that has so far been an awkward fit for the group of players he inherited. Will the Portuguese get the chance to reshape Manchester United in the long-term if results in the short-term remain so bad? Amorim is already facing a reckoning in a job he possibly wishes he’d never accepted.

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