Amorim Shows Teeth As Man Utd Boss With ‘Brutal’ Rashford Call
After making the most “brutal” call of his short tenure to date, Ruben Amorim is celebrating his biggest win since joining Manchester United with a sigh of relief.
For “selection” reasons, the Portuguese dropped forwards Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford for Sunday’s game at Manchester City, and the gamble paid off with a dramatic 2-1 victory thanks to late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo.
Since taking over the sacked Erik ten Hag last month, Amorim has shown he is ready to face the daunting task that lies ahead of him at a dysfunctional Old Trafford.
As he fights to get past the club’s 13th-placed Premier League team, he has shown that he is willing to walk the talk as well as talk the talk.
The former Sporting Lisbon boss has shown he is willing to change his squad and has no desire to cut out famous faces.
Rashford and Garnacho, two of United’s most effective attackers, were completely dropped from the squad on Sunday because Amorim showed his teeth.
Amorim said it was a “selection” issue ahead of the game at the Etihad, with both players training at United’s training ground on Sunday morning.
Afterwards, he stressed it was not a disciplinary issue, though he did allude to standards he expects.
“For me what is important is the performance in training, the performance in game, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with teammates and push teammates,” he said.
When we want to change a lot of things and when members of our club are losing their jobs, everything is important in our context. They must compete for their spot in their team because we must set our standards very high.
We demonstrated that if you play together, you can leave anyone out of the squad and still be successful. ”
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Clean slate
Amorim does not appear to be a man who holds grudges, saying the slate would be wiped clean ahead of United’s next game, which is against Tottenham in the League Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.
“Next week, next game, new life and they are fighting for the places,” he said.
After United celebrated their victory, Rushford uploaded a photo to social media with the caption “Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Love it lads,” with two heart emojis, while Garnacho stayed silent.
But speculation will continue over the future of 27-year-old Rashford, who has struggled for consistency since scoring 30 goals in the 2022/23 season.
It is not a new situation for the England forward, who has been punished in the past for disciplinary lapses, including over-sleeping.
Garnacho, age 20, is regarded as one of United’s crown jewels but hasn’t been consistent this season, with Fernandes suggesting that some fans have lost faith in him. He pointedly refused to celebrate a goal against Leicester.
Former United captain Gary Neville, now a Sky Sports pundit, backed Amorim after Sunday’s “brutal” call, criticising the work ethic of both players.
“They’ve both been poor on the pitch, that’s a fact,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. Amorim also claimed that performance and team engagement were key factors in the selection problem. That means if they’ve not been good in the group. That’s why they weren’t here.
“What he’s done is made a bold call. He needs to completely resurrect this club. ”
Neville emphasized that Amorim needs to create a trio that fits his preferred 3-4-3 formation.
“He needs to make sure he’s brutal with it, really brutal. And he’s been brutal today,” he said.
Roy Keane, another former United captain turned TV pundit, told Sky Sports that Amorim was putting down a “marker”.
“It’s a big talking point because he’s obviously seen things he doesn’t like,” he said. It comes as no surprise to us because both players have been terrible, and he has said enough is enough.
“He is putting a marker down. Let’s see how they react to it. ”
