How Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd record after 10 games compares to every manager since Ferguson

Ruben Amorim is no stranger to difficult beginnings.

After losing his first two games in charge of Casa Pia in Portugal’s fourth tier, the recently retired midfielder publicly stated he would quit if they suffered a third successive setback. They won 4-0.

Amorim has not yet delivered an ultimatum – perhaps it should – but has admitted that a return of five defeats in ten games. is a major concern. The latest brave soul to take up the poisoned chalice that is today’s Manchester United follows in the footsteps of five managers who ultimately failed to succeed the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

Here’s how Amorim’s record compares to its predecessors.

It all started so well. Amorim’s reign was 80 seconds old when Marcus Rashford fired United ahead against Ipswich Town. However, the following 89 minutes proved more telling as the Red Devils barely tested the Tractor Boys and were lucky to get away with a single point.

Before Rashford was exiled from the first-team squad, the England international scored twice on Amorim’s Premier League debut in a 4-0 win over Everton. The Red Devils had beaten Norwegian outfit Bodo/Glimt three days earlier, but signs of United’s struggles under their new Portuguese boss were evident even in those wins. As Amorim warned after his three-match unbeaten start: “The storm will come.”

The reigning FA Cup champions have struggled desperately to create chances from open play. Since Amorim’s appointment, United have racked up chances worth a combined xG without penalty of just 8.7 per UnderStat – a poor relegation that ranks 13th in the Premier League. There is a clearer form out of possession, but the Red Devils have become completely inept in game situations.

Of the 19 goals scored by the Amorim team, nine were from set pieces, and two were directly from corners. A Boxing Day defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers – inspired by Matheus Cunha’s deliberate effort from the corner flag – was United’s third defeat on the turn and their fifth in December. The storm has truly arrived.

Amorim’s tally of five defeats in his first ten games is not only the worst start by any of Ferguson’s failed successors, it represents the most losses suffered in such a short period since Walter Crickmer in January 1932 .

However, the 39-year-old boss is not the first United boss to set unwanted pre-war records. Erik has HagHis Old Trafford debut ended in defeat to Brighton before suffering a 4-0 dismantling away at Brentford in August 2022, becoming the first United manager since John Chapman in 1921 to lose his first two games in charge.

Louis van Gaal he also suffered a miserable opening to his United career, winning even fewer games than Amorim.

The Dutchman’s inherently inflated ego, further inflated by a successful performance as Netherlands boss in 2014 World Cupwas punctured by a debut defeat against Swansea City. After a 1-1 draw with Sunderland, Van Gaal was consigned to a humiliating EFL Cup exit at the hands of League One MK Dons, losing 4-0 to a third-tier club that had only been around for ten years at that time. Never one to admit defeat, Van Gaal insisted after the game: “I’m not surprised.” Everyone else was.

Jose Mourinho collected the first trophy in what he unabashedly hailed as a treble on his Manchester United debut, lifting the Community Shield at the start of a season that would end with mild League Cup glory and Europa League. The Portuguese manager won seven of his first ten games either side of three consecutive defeats – Mourinho’s longest losing streak in all competitions at the time since his days as Porto manager in the early 2000s.

While a brilliant outburst from Ferguson’s original and anointed successor, David Moyessoon gave way to the distressing mediocrity that has since become commonplace in the red half of Manchester, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer he enjoyed, without a doubt, the best opening salvo.

A walking, talking memory of the glory days, Solskjaer initially inspired an entertaining brand of counter-attacking football. The ultimate nostalgic was a set of endearing eccentricities that provided the perfect salvo for the final days of Mourinho’s toxic reign in 2019.

Solskjaer was constantly smiling, moved Paul Pogba into the number ten position and even refused to leave his car in Ferguson’s old car park. As the tune of ‘Ole’s at the wheel’ rang out across Old Trafford, United racked up nine wins and 25 goals in the former striker’s first ten games.

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