Only Europe can save Manchester United from domestic turmoil

Ruben Amorim's team sink further in Premier League after defeat to Wolves but form in Europa League raises hopes

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, right, after defeat against Wolves. AFP

Two Portuguese managers took control of Premier League clubs before Christmas 2024. When Vitor Pereira became Wolves boss in December replacing Gary O’Neill, his side looked set for relegation and were 13 points behind Manchester United, where Ruben Amorim had been appointed.

On Sunday at Old Trafford, Wolves completed a league double over United for the first time since 1980. It was their fifth league win in succession, their best top-flight run since 1972. The win, thanks to a 79th minute Paul Sarabia free-kick, saw Wolves move level with United on points.

Sarabia had been on the pitch only three minutes when he made an impact none of the other players had managed. Only Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and Manchester City have picked up more points in the league than Wolves since Pereira was appointed.

It was United’s 15th league defeat of the season, the 13th time the team had failed to score. United have scored one goal in their last four league games in a woeful total of 22 all season against teams outside the bottom three.

There is a plethora of statistics, almost all of them negative, that can be applied to Manchester United this season. Five league games remain to avoid finishing 17th. If the team don’t finish 13th then it will be their worst league season since relegation in 1973-74.

Amorim has lost half his 22 Premier League games so far – as many defeats as in his final 114 league games at his previous club, Sporting. His United side have taken only nine points from the last 10 league games – six of those against all but relegated Ipswich Town and Leicester City. It is relegation form.

And still the fans applauded the players – including impressive youngsters Tyler Fredricson, Harry Amass and Chido Obi – as they left the pitch on Sunday.

Other players applauded back, but so many of them are falling short of the expected standards that one wonders whether they have any future at Old Trafford.

That question will be answered for several of those applauding on the pitch and who are out of contract, namely Christian Eriksen, Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof.

More recent signings including forward Rasmus Hojlund, who has just one goal in his last 28 games, will likely get more time but no successful football team functions with a strike force that seldom strikes.

“We say to the fans the truth,” said Amorim after the game. “We lack things in our team and we miss chances. If we do not score, we won’t win. We were the better team but if we don’t score, nothing matters. What counts is the result.”

And still the fans sing for their boss Amorim week after week, to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s 'It’s a Heartache'. And it is that right now for United fans.

To the outsider, this fan support could be baffling. United are having a terrible season by any metric, but there is significant mitigation.

The team were stuttering when Amorim took charge in November, though they were only four points off a Champions League position then.

Amorim said that he wanted to stay at Sporting until the end of the season, but United insisted he had to join and start his rebuild project in November, which he agreed to.

It was always a very difficult job taking over a club with a complex dressing room and it looked even more difficult as his side lost six games in December alone – more than in any December since 1933.

The one flicker of hope in United’s tortuous season has been in Europe. The Reds’ form in the Europa League sees them as the only unbeaten side of the 100 who entered the group stages of the Uefa Champions League, Europa League and Conference league this season.

That record looked to have gone on Thursday night when Lyon led 4-2 after 113 minutes at Old Trafford. Seven of the craziest minutes ever in football later and it stood intact as United scored three goals to reach a semi-final against Athletic Club.

So dramatic was Thursday’s Europa League comeback that there was always going to be a feeling of Sunday’s Wolves game being after the Lord Mayor’s Show. The atmosphere was flatter, in part because the game didn’t really matter.

Wolves are happy to avoid relegation. United can’t say that and need the Europa League to save their season. That would bring a much-needed trophy, access to next season’s Champions League, more games and all the financial rewards that come with it, plus the attraction to potential summer recruits.

“We have a lot to do and to focus on improving the team step by step. Understanding that, until the end of this league, it is going to be like this,” Amorim said.

United are still to play at Bournemouth, Brentford and Chelsea in the league, with home games against West Ham and Aston Villa.

“We created a lot of chances,” said Amorim after the Wolves defeat. “We controlled the game, we blocked some good players, then one set-piece changes the game and that’s that. It’s really frustrating.”

For United fans, he’s not wrong. For Wolves, there was joy from the 3,000 fans in the away end.

“The most important thing is not me but to see the happiness in the faces of the players and the supporters,” said Pereira.

His team is safe, his job is done this season. Amorim is barely past the starting post.