Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen believes the Red Devils are “copying exactly what they did with Erik ten Hag” by appointing Ruben Amorim.
Amorim replaced Ten Hag in the United dugout in November but has failed to revert United’s slide into mediocrity; if anything they’ve got worse under the Portuguese manager’s stewardship.
Like Ten Hag when the Dutchman moved from Ajax, Amorim arrived at Old Trafford as one of Europe’s most highly rated coaches having reinvigorated a sleeping giant in Sporting.
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Ten Hag retained his job in the summer despite leading United in their worst-ever Premier League and Champions League campaigns in 2023/2024, with the FA Cup final win over Manchester City doing just enough to stop new co-owner and head of football operates Sir Jim Ratcliffe from making a change.
But Ten Hag didn’t last long this season and Amorim has been left to pick up the pieces, with his change of style and formation proving difficult with little time for training in the relentless fixture schedule.
Meulensteen – who worked as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant from 2008 to 2013 – is a fan of Amorim’s style, but is concerned his former club are making the same mistake they made in appointing Ten Hag.
“It’s more to do with the appointment process than anything about his management style or coaching,” Meulensteen said.
“You look at when United went for Ten Hag. He was the manager at Ajax in a smaller league in Europe and did really well winning the league and did well in the Champions League.
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“It’s exactly the same pattern with Amorim in Portugal. Sporting, a smaller league, does well, wins the league, and does really well in the Champions League.
“He’s got a really nice football style about him; that’s where the similarities are. I think they’re two different characters with two different personalities.
“The way that Ten Hag communicated compared to the way that Amorim communicates, the way that Amorim likes to play his team in a 3-4-3 is different from Ten Hag.
“But that was the concern for me with United actually copying exactly what they did by appointing Ten Hag. They do exactly what they did with Amorim.
“Because Ten Hag had no experience in the Premier League, Amorim has no experience in the Premier League. When Ten Hag came in, everybody was keen because of the way that Ajax played.
“Man United never played anywhere near the same attractive style under Ten Hag with Ajax. Now, Amorim comes in, and he says very clearly, ‘This is the way I’m going to play’.
“But he’s got a completely different set of players, a completely different league, you know what I mean? So it is very hard for him to recreate that because it’s very different.”
