Ruben Amorim is recent off the most important win of his Manchester United reign. The staff’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Sunday was the primary time the Portuguese coach has managed back-to-back Premier League wins since his appointment almost a yr in the past. It additionally made him the primary United boss to win at Anfield since 2016.
There’s, although, an argument that Brighton’s go to to Outdated Trafford on Saturday is much more vital. Amid all the issues Amorim’s confronted since taking the job a bit below a yr in the past in November 2024, United’s file in opposition to the remainder of the so-called Huge Six has been respectable. In 11 Premier League video games in opposition to these groups (Liverpool, Manchester Metropolis, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur), Amorim has recorded three wins, three attracts and 5 defeats. Victory over Liverpool served to strengthen a degree the 40-year-old made after the slender defeat to Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season: that United “can win any sport within the Premier League.”
Amorim’s file in opposition to newly promoted groups can also be good — 5 wins, one attract six matches in opposition to Ipswich City, Southampton and Leicester Metropolis final season, and Burnley and Sunderland in 2025-26. For some time, it regarded like his gamers had been solely able to beating sides not lengthy faraway from the Championship. However in video games in opposition to the opposite 11 groups (Brighton, Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Everton, Crystal Palace, Brentford, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and Wolves) his file drops to only three wins, three attracts and 12 defeats from 18 video games.
United’s largest downside is not in video games in opposition to Liverpool and Manchester Metropolis, or Southampton, Sunderland and Burnley. The difficulty, fairly, is after they play anybody else.
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Towards the Huge Six, Amorim has a win share of 27.7% and has earned 1.09 factors per sport (PPG). For newly promoted groups, it is a 83.3% win fee and a couple of.67 PPG. Towards everybody else, nonetheless, Amorim’s win share is simply 16.67%, with a depressing 0.67 factors earned per sport.
The match in opposition to Liverpool was a giant outcome, however there is a case to be made that victory over Brighton this weekend would signify a much better yardstick of United’s progress.
For Amorim, the difficulty round video games in opposition to groups like Brighton is about strain. There’s naturally further strain round a sport United ought to win; past that, there’s an extra strain to win in a sure method. Amorim touched on it himself earlier than the journey to Anfield when he was requested why his staff have fared higher in opposition to larger groups.
“Perhaps the expectations,” he mentioned. “When it’s a must to win, it is a lot more durable to play like that. That is why if you play in massive golf equipment, you’ll want to win each match, particularly when persons are anticipating you to win. We’ve got some difficulties generally to take care of that. When folks anticipate Manchester United to win that sport, perhaps it is simpler for the gamers to carry out, and we have to change that.”
To a sure diploma, what occurred in opposition to Liverpool performed into that. Regardless of Arne Slot’s staff heading into the sport on the again of three straight defeats, Liverpool had been nonetheless heavy favorites. Towards Brighton, United shall be anticipated to win.
It was maybe what drove Amorim to try to regulate the view of his staff after beating Liverpool. “I would like you guys [the media] to proceed with the narrative you might be,” he mentioned. “Do not change that. That’s greatest for me.”
The one factor Amorim can management is how United play, and that in itself has brought on him issues. It is also one thing he predicted earlier than he even arrived in Manchester. When Amorim’s Sporting CP thrashed Manchester Metropolis throughout his lengthy goodbye in Portugal, he was fast to clarify why United followers should not get too carried away. Sporting received 4-1 regardless of having solely 27.3% possession and 9 pictures, in contrast with Metropolis’s 72.7% possession and 20 pictures.
Requested afterward if he realized how excited United followers can be after the outcome, Amorim performed it down. “It does not imply something,” he mentioned. “Manchester United cannot play that defensively.”
It is one thing he has battled with all through his time at Outdated Trafford. After beating Ipswich 3-2 in February with 10 males following Patrick Dorgu’s first-half crimson card, Amorim acknowledged that his staff was having extra success when pressured to play on the again foot.
“I believe that’s clear, and it’s laborious for me,” he mentioned. “If we now have gamers like Harry Maguire and [Matthijs] de Ligt defending the field, they’re actually sturdy, however then after they must cowl quite a lot of area, the sport modifications for them. … It’s actually laborious for me to play like we play within the second half. However I really feel the gamers are extra comfy generally defending within the low block.”
Not solely did United not have expectations weighing them down at Anfield, Amorim additionally felt comfy using ways that irked Slot. “It’s all the time troublesome to play in opposition to a staff that defends in a low block and primarily performs the lengthy ball,” the Liverpool supervisor mentioned after watching his staff have nearly all of possession, extra pictures and extra pictures on the right track.
Brighton at house is a special sport than Liverpool away. Fabian Hurzeler’s facet received 3-1 at Outdated Trafford in January regardless of having lower than 50% possession and solely three pictures on the right track. Seven days after going through Brighton, United will journey to Nottingham Forest, the place they misplaced 1-0 in April regardless of having 62.8% possession and 23 pictures. Forest had 31.8% possession and simply two pictures on targets, however received because of a medical early counterattack completed off by Anthony Elanga.
In brief, Brighton and Forest supply Amorim a special downside to the one he confronted at Anfield. It is one which, thus far, he has struggled to unravel. Amorim known as the outcome at Liverpool “the most important win in my time at Manchester United,” and it is simple to grasp why. It was an announcement victory in a giant sport in opposition to a fierce rival.
However the true measure of the place his staff is at will come this weekend. Amorim acknowledged that within the media room at Anfield on Sunday. “It has been day,” he mentioned. “Now we should concentrate on Brighton. We are going to see after Brighton.”
Brighton at Outdated Trafford maybe would not include the hype and glamor of taking part in Liverpool at Anfield. For Amorim, nonetheless, it has taken on an excellent larger significance.