Manchester United lost 3-1 to Brentford on Saturday and it’s fair to say the result wasn’t a surprise. Such is the defeat percentage under Ruben Amorim in the Premier League there can be no real shock when it’s zero points.
Having sacrificed last season on the altar of relative success in the current one, reward for that suffering hasn’t come.
There’s no clear improvement in playing style and Amorim appears none the wiser for it. A culture of losing games has grown, and that’s touched on in Portugal. The manager told the Portuguese media this week his head is fully on the job.
Sunday’s edition of A Bola has a headline reading: ‘Is this the new normal?’
The Portuguese newspaper tell their audience ‘United lost again’, ‘something which no longer surprises anyone’.
Pushing it home, A Bola quip it was ‘another day, another defeat’.
They’re not absolving Amorim from blame and state Manchester United displayed ‘disorganisation and an inability to respond to the opposition’s play’.
Sunday’s edition of O Jogo is perhaps even more dramatic.
Their headline reads: ‘Fatal attraction to the abyss’
The suggestion is United are getting worse as time goes by.
Over at Record the headline is: ‘Amorim falls again’
Ruben Amorim ‘in hot water’ at Manchester United
As is a growing trend, even in Portugal, they question the manager’s future: ‘Amorim, however, has already suffered more defeats (17) in the English league… than he has suffered with Sporting and Braga (14) in the Portuguese league. These are worrying numbers that call into question his continuity.’
Correio da Manhã believe the manager is ‘in hot water’, and Jornal de Notícias state ‘the contagious crisis spreads to Bruno’.
The confidence around Ruben Amorim’s future at Manchester United has clearly fallen in the Portuguese media. They’re not especially blaming the players or club generally for his troubles, allowing their compatriot to be questioned.
Portugal’s general consensus following the Brentford defeat is that Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United are getting worse rather than better.
