CAN RUBEN BE AT RISK ALREADY?

Our writers take a look at Manchester United's slow start to the new season and investigate whether Ruben Amorim is the man to turn it around for the Red Devils.

- JOHN CROSS

WITH a full preseason behind him, Ruben Amorim would have hoped for a faster start. But there is no need to panic. Under Erik ten Hag, United lost their first two Premier League games of the 2022-23 season and went on to finish third, albeit a fair distance behind winners Manchester City and runners-up Arsenal.

There have been promising spells during the defeat at home to the Gunners and the draw at Fulham and a tally of 32 attempts on goal suggests this is a team that will create more chances than it did last season. Converting more of those chances is clearly the main issue for Amorim to sort and not starting with Benjamin Sesko (above) has been a bit of a head-scratcher, even if there are doubts about his fitness. But a front three of Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo will score plenty of goals when they get to know each other well.

Sure, the opening couple of matches has shown there is still a host of problems that Amorim needs to solve but those problems are so deep-rooted he will need a lot more time to reestablish United as a serious force.