‘It Is Hard’—Ruben Amorim Apologizes for One of Many Mistakes at Man Utd

After refraining from making any public comments during the six months between his sacking at United and appointment by AC Milan, Amorim was belatedly drawn on the topic this week. “It is hard to explain the mistakes,” the Portuguese coach told assembled media at his first press conference as the new Rossoneri coach. “It is hard to tell you about every mistake, but I learned a lot.

“I made some mistakes. I didn’t have the opportunity to say something to the Manchester United fans at that moment, and I am sorry for that. I am really proud to have been their coach for a year, but now it is a different history.

“There are a lot of things that I could have done better at the last experience. But sometimes it is like that. You have to learn to find the right spots to reach a different level.”

What Mistakes Did Ruben Amorim Make at Man Utd?

Amorim didn’t have the time or inclination to go through each mistake he made at Manchester United during his first official appearance as Milan’s new boss. It was easy to understand why: there were just so many.

The most obvious undoing was his steadfast insistence on sticking to the 3-4-2-1 formation which brought so much success at Sporting CP but didn’t suit the United players at his disposal. The English media latched onto this point and it eventually became a case of Amorim letting his ego get in the way of what even he realized was good for the team.

After insisting that the Pope could not convince him to ditch his precious system, Amorim belatedly changed shape against Newcastle United on the day after last Christmas. Having eventually given in to common sense, which earned a win, Amorim incredibly revealed that he held out for so long to avoid looking as though he had given in to media pressure.

“When you [journalists] talk about changing the system all the time, I cannot change because the players will understand that I am changing because of you,” the United boss claimed, seemingly unaware of the mental fragility he was inadvertently exposing.

Amorim’s communication style got him into all sorts of problems during his 14 months in England. The former Portugal international nicknamed “the Poet” by Cristiano Ronaldo found himself constantly entangled in his own words, whether he was dishing out scathing criticism to individuals or the team as a collective. That tendency to alienate certain players, most notably Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo, didn’t help anyone.

Yet, the biggest mistake Amorim made was before he even took charge of his first United match. The two-time Portuguese top-flight winner with Sporting had made an unbeaten start to the 2024–25 season when United came calling. Amorim initially appealed to join the club at the end of the campaign only to be met with an ultimatum of now or never.

Even the mistake of committing mid-season could have been improved had the tactician got a proper idea of what his role would be. As Amorim made abundantly clear in his final, explosive diatribe while a Manchester United employee, he considered himself to be “manager” rather than the “coach”—a distinction which should have given him influence over matters beyond the pitch.

However, United made a point of announcing Amorim as Manchester United’s new “head coach.” Clearly, he never got that memo.

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