ANALYSIS: Could Man United’s solution to the Ruben Amorim dilemma already be at the club?

ANALYSIS: Could Man United’s solution to the Ruben Amorim dilemma already be at the club?

With pressure mounting on Ruben Amorim, Manchester United may not need to look far for answers — could the solution already be within their own ranks?

Even after a fairly comfortable 2-0 win over Sunderland at Old Trafford on Saturday (October 4), questions remain about whether Ruben Amorim is the right man to bring Man United’s glory days back.

From his 50 games at the helm, Amorim has 20 wins, nine draws, and a whopping 21 defeats, with a Premier League win rate of 27.3%. This is Manchester United Football Club; he has to be doing a lot better than that!

Speculation is mounting over who might replace him if United choose to make a change — but could the ideal candidate already be in-house in Darren Fletcher?

Fletcher was appointed the new manager of Man United’s Under-18s in the summer and he’s barely put a foot wrong since. His only defeat of the season so far came last Saturday (September 27) at the hand of local rivals Man City, who ended up 4-2 winners.

His side led that game 2-0 after 32 minutes before capitulating against arguably the best academy side in the country. Of course, Fred Heath’s 81st minute red card while 3-2 down seriously hampered their chances of mounting a comeback.

On paper, Fletcher has his lads playing in a 4-2-3-1, but while in possession, that appears to change into an attacking 4-2-4, with the number ten, usually James Bailey moving further up into a second striker role alongside the remarkably talented 14-year-old JJ Gabriel.

Off the ball, he expects his players to press intensely while keeping their defensive structure. The four goals United’s Under-18s conceded in the defeat to City were the first they had conceded all season.

Fletcher also loves a ball playing centre-back. United do play out from the back a majority of the time, but when facing a side that is a little more open, his centre backs have license to play the ball long, over the top, to the forwards.0

In contrast to Amorim who is so set in his ways, Fletcher appears to recognise that different opponents sometimes require different tactics and is happy to adapt in order to get a positive result. Usually, however, considering the talent at his disposal, he gives his young players freedom to make their own decisions.

In his own words after a 4-0 win over Brighton: “The fast attacks… it’s proper United. I’ve been showing them old clips of (Wayne) Rooney, (Cristiano) Ronaldo and Ji-Sung Park, the counter-attack goals, and (Ryan) Giggs and (Andrei) Kanchelskis, too, trying to show a bit of that Man United DNA. And that came out today.

“If teams want to come and have a go at us, and try to press, we’ve got the ability to play around them, and if they want to leave a high line, we can be devastating. It’s enjoying the challenge of the different things Brighton brought today and it’s about us giving the players that beforehand, but then the players recognising it and problem-solving themselves.”

It’s a bit of a clich9 at this point, but the importance of knowing the club can’t be understated, especially during a time of crisis. That feeling of familiarity can help ease any anxieties, it one of the reasons Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was so successful when he first took over, although it all ended in tears.

According to a report from The Sun, Fletcher is highly regarded by the powers that be at United and has impressed them with his work ethic and dynamic style of play. It adds that they’re already considering him as an option to take over temporarily should they sack Amorim.

It’s also understood that Fletcher remains a well-liked figure at the club he spent 13-years at, coming through the academy system as a youngster before going on to make 342 appearances across all competitions.0

The argument is that United need to move on from the past, beyond the Sir Alex Ferguson years and start a fresh. Realistically, however, that will be tricky, especially considering almost every ex-player is on TV three several times a day talking about how good things used to be.

Several reports have suggested that it would cost around 312 million for United to sack Amorim. That’s quite a significant outlay considering they spent over 3200m on new players in the summer with no European football to help make up the funds.

If they were to go out and get an Oliver Glasner or Andoni Iraola midseason, that would also cost a substantial chunk of change. Amorim has also proven that bringing in new managers right away rather than waiting until the summer may not be the wisest idea.

Whether on an interim basis or permanently, Fletcher would be the most cost-effective option, although one would hope he gets a pay raise for such a promotion, as anyone should.

It’s unclear whether United will cut their losses on the Amorim project or persist until it completely unravels. Removing him would demand a level of self-reflection that the club’s hierarchy has seldom demonstrated.

It would make a lot of sense to offer Fletcher the chance, at least temporarily, should they pull the trigger.