Manchester United’s Ruben Amorim called his team “perhaps the worst team in the history” of the club shortly after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, his fourth home defeat since taking charge in November.
The Red Devils only had one shot on goal during the match, which came via a penalty that Bruno Fernandes scored in the 23rd minute. They now sit 13th in the Premier League, closer to the relegation zone than the top four.
“In 10 games in the Premier League we won two, I know that,” Amorim said of his form since his arrival after the game, according to The Athletic. “Imagine this for a Manchester United fan, imagine this for me. They will have a new manager who is losing more than the last one. Imagine. We need to survive this moment. I know it. Maybe we are being the worst.” team in the history of Manchester United. I know you want headlines, but I say that because we have to recognize it and change it. So there you have it, your headline.”
Amorim added that it was important to recognize how poor United are, but that it was “difficult to explain” their current situation, winning just 11 points in 11 Premier League games since taking charge.
“It’s difficult to explain, we have to recognize the moment and not dwell on the problem,” he said. “Everyone here is underperforming, no matter the circumstances. It is unacceptable to lose so many games for any Premier League club, let alone Manchester United. It is a really difficult time, but we have to continue. The opponents are better than “We can’t be consistent. I’m not helping my players right now. We have to recognize that we are in a very difficult situation. All the bad records, losing home games. losing in the Premier League, we are really below the expected level.
United set the wrong kinds of records
The Red Devils’ season has been marked by statistics demonstrating their poor performance, some of which Amorim pointed out on his own. This is just a taste of this season’s problems, which were very evident even when his predecessor Erik ten Hag was still in charge.
They now have 10 defeats in the league, the fastest mark they have reached since the 1989-90 season under Sir Alex Ferguson, when they suffered 16 defeats. United also have just 26 points from 22 in the Premier League, on track to hit a new record for lowest points total since the 2021-22 season, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick split managerial shifts and amassed just 58 points. That season they averaged 1.5 points per game and are currently at 1.2. They also have six home defeats in the league this season, the most since Ferguson’s 1993-94 season, when they lost seven times.
The list of new lows is also varied. United have not been impressive from set pieces for some time now, conceding 17 goals from chances in 2024, the most in a calendar year in the Premier League for them. In December alone, they conceded 18 goals, the most in a single month since March 1964, when they also conceded 18. They also lost six games that month, the most since losing seven times in September 1930.
Although Amorim, one of the sport’s rising managerial stars, showed real promise when he started work in the fall, things haven’t necessarily improved under his leadership. Some of this could be out of reach: the team he has built over the last few years does not reflect his style of play and may not be strong enough to compete for top-four spots and titles. However, the fact that Amorim’s version of United continues to decline throughout the season lends credence to the manager’s claim that this iteration of the team could be the worst in its history.
It may be difficult to compare the current United team with any before the modern era of the game, one in which the game is dominated by the owners’ cash flow. This particular period of the sport, however, is also defined by United’s success; Ferguson took them to unprecedented heights that remain the yardstick by which each of his successors has been judged. The resources provided by the Glazer family and United’s impressive business operations, combined with the expectations placed on them and this season’s uninspiring performances mean that this version of the Red Devils could actually be the worst in the club’s history. However, at least they’re the worst version of the team in recent memory.