Amorim faces watershed moment at sorry United

Somewhere along the line, the lap of honour became a lap of appreciation.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Yet Manchester United still felt like pioneers on Sunday, ending their season with a lap of apology. Ruben Amorim addressed the crowd in contrition following a calamity of a campaign. After spending much of his first few months at Old Trafford delivering doom-laden predictions and talking his team down, he at least provided a shift in tone. “Today, after this disaster season, I want to tell you the good days are coming,” he said.

It prompts a host of questions. When? How? Why? Really? And if none appear to have an easy answer, there is also a question of how Amorim would define “the good days”. Some would say United have not experienced them since Alex Ferguson retired. Yet compared to their terrible 2024-25 – to borrow another adjective Amorim used – Erik ten Hag’s 2022-23 campaign, which brought a third-placed finish and a trophy, feels good. Even if it did not prove, as it then looked, a platform for further progress. Now, coming 15th means a 14th-place finish could qualify as improvement, if not good days.

There is a case for arguing that United were the worst team to stay up. They took 27 points from 27 games under Amorim, 10 of them against the relegated trio. In all competitions this season, they lost four times to the team that finished 17th, Tottenham. Under Amorim, they were beaten by those who finished 16th, 14th, 12th, 11th (in the FA Cup), 10th, ninth, eighth and seventh; the exceptions were Everton, in 13th, and United were desperately lucky to draw 2-2 at Goodison Park.