Amorim confirms Man Utd sacking with Pope comment

Robin Bairner

• 20 Sept 2025 09:35 BST
• 7 min read

Analysis

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim confirmed with one offbeat comment about the Pope what has become increasingly apparent in recent months: it’s a matter of time before he’s sacked.

Amorim held ‘emergency talks’ with Man Utd owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe this week as the Ineos supremo jetted into the club’s Carrington training complex in a bid to unearth exactly what’s going wrong.

Four games into the Premier League season, United sit in the middle of the table, occupying 14th spot – one place better off than they finished last term.

The numbers for Amorim are stark. Since he took command last November, no ever-present Premier League club has picked up fewer points.

And yet, for the Portuguese, his dogmatic 3-4-2-1 system is not the problem.

He was asked during his pre-match press conference for Saturday’s clash against Chelsea if Ratcliffe had asked him to change tactics.

“No, no, no,” he replied. “No one will force me to change. Not even the Pope…

“This is my job. This is my responsibility. This is my life. So, I will not change that.”

Amorim's fate decided by one tactic

A commendable stance to stick to his beliefs, but equally, this is a hill that his Manchester United career will surely die on.

Indeed, Amorim’s system should not be written off, but it certainly should be reconsidered with the group of players he has at his disposal. This is where he is going wrong.

Had Man Utd managed the type of extensive transfer campaign in the summer Amorim might have wished, then perhaps he could have continued with it. Instead, €250 million was spent on three new attackers and a rookie goalkeeper considered too raw to start against Manchester City.

The structural issues that seemed to undermine Amorim’s tactics last season – that of a lack of centre-backs and at least one central midfielder capable of playing this system – remain entrenched.

And yet, according to Fabrizio Romano, Amorim does not see this as a problem.

The transfer insider said: “Amorim believes it’s not about the system creating a problem. That’s why he’s saying the philosophy is not the problem. He’s convinced it’s not about tactics. And that’s what he keeps telling everyone at the club. Now it’s about getting different results.”

For Amorim, it’s a mental problem, with a lack of intensity the primary issue.

Quite how or why he thinks this will change after a year of failure is something only he will know. Casemiro, for example, has gone full Cristiano Ronaldo with his training regime, going on a self-imposed sugar ban. While his performances have improved, the stratospheric leap forward United might have hoped to take has not followed.

When the Amorim era ends, there will be no chaotic, last-gasp tactical Hail Mary. Instead, United will limp to the end much as they have over the reign of the Portuguese. It’s going to take divine intervention to save him now.

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