'He knows how good he is' - what Manchester United fans can expect from Ruben Amorim
Amorim announced as United manager.
It is fair to say that outside of Portugal, Ruben Amorim is not a household name despite his reputation as one of Europe's most exciting young managers. The reality is, Liga Portugal isn't followed as much as LaLiga, Serie A or the Premier League, and I want to know more about Erik ten Hag's successor from someone who lives and breathes Portuguese football.
So to find answers on Amorim's character, style of play and if he can succeed in English football, I spoke to a colleague from Flashscore's Portuguese news desk, Mário Rui Ventura, an expert on Portuguese football and Sporting Lisbon.
Since Ruben Amorim was first linked to Manchester United, there has been a lot of intrigue from fans and inside the British media about what the club can expect from him as a personality. Can you give some insight into Amorim's character?
"Ruben Amorim can be compared to Jose Mourinho in terms of personality if we talk about being firm in his ideas.
"He knows how good he is, he's not afraid to make risky choices and stick to them until the end.
"And he's one of the best communicators Portuguese football has seen in many years, better than Mourinho. And his English, still rusty, is better than the special one."
He is known for his attacking style but would you say there are any similarities to his tactics with Jose Mourinho as someone who has inspired him?
"Yes and no. Amorim doesn't have any problem in saying, several times, that he 'robbed' ideas from the biggest coaches.
"Last week he said that again when talking about the football calendar, he said that coaches don't have time to train and implement new ideas, which is bad for him, as he can't steal the ideas from others.
"But Amorim has always used a 3-4-3 in his career, he started that in Casa Pia, bet on it at Braga and transformed the football at Sporting with that system. And Mourinho does not play a back three."
What can the Premier League expect from Amorim's 3-4-3 setup from a tactical viewpoint and do you expect him to implement it at United from day one?
"From day one - no doubt about that. The 3-4-3 that he uses now isn't the same one he implemented at Sporting four years ago. No, he uses one centre back (or two) and one left/right back in the line of three. Then in the lines, he has two wingers, a two-man midfield (at United it could be Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes, two ex-sporting players) and in the attack, one or two strikers and one or two wingers.
"In the beginning, he played with three centre-backs, one left-back, one right-back, two or three midfielders and even the striker wasn't a pure number nine, (it was Paulinho) it was a Marcus Rashford, not a Viktor Gyokeres."
That is an interesting transformation, so with that in mind would you say that we could see Diogo Dalot for example in the back three alongside Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt rather than as a wing-back? And regarding the change to a natural number nine, do you expect Rasmus Hojlund to excel under Amorim?
"Dalot can be on the right in the line of three without a doubt. Amorim 'stole' the idea of the right-back being in the middle of the field when on the attack from Guardiola, one of the 'ideas' he implemented.
"Hojlund has some skills similar to Gyokeres and Conrad Harder. (the former being the second striker who Amorim asked Sporting to buy this season) Also, Gyokeres is Swedish and Hojlund is Danish so you can see the 'story' here."
Would you say the reaction of Sporting fans (who appear to be very upset by him leaving) is a reason for excitement for United fans? Or do you think this is a big step up and a risky appointment?
"It is a big step and risky for sure but wasn't Mourinho the same? The fans being upset is natural, Amorim is the first Sporting manager to be champion twice in four years and they are first again this season. He has a key place in the club's history."
So you think it is a smart appointment from INEOS?
"Long story short: yes."
Analysis
The conversation I had with Mario answered some of my doubts about Amorim and although the parallels to Erik ten Hag are understandable, I think they are unfair.
What Amorim has done in Portugal by disrupting Porto and Benfica's dominance with less than half the budget and resources is nothing short of remarkable. Sporting were in a mess before he arrived and he is leaving them top of Liga Portugal and going strong in the Champions League.
And whilst Ten Hag made it clear from early on that he wasn't going to translate his Ajax style to United, Amorim sounds like the type of man to stick to his guns. I fully expect him to keep with the 3-4-3 formation which has been so successful at each of his three clubs.
And with that formation comes so many possibilities.
It appears from research I've done and speaking to Mario that there is a misconception that Amorim will play wing-backs. As Mario said, the Portuguese has altered his formation so that full-backs play either side of a central defender and where there were wing-backs, there are now wingers.
What this means is that there is a real possibility to see something like: Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo on the wings with Rashford and/or Fernandes as the inside forwards behind the number nine Rasmus Hojlund.
And if you think that seems far-fetched, then take a look at Amorim's selection as Sporting travelled to Famalicao last month.
The two 'wing-backs' were Nuno Santos and Geovany Quenda (who are two natural wingers), Hidemasa Morita and Daniel Braganca were in a double-pivot and Pedro Goncalves, Trincao and Gyokeres made up a front three.
It is an attack-heavy formation with the idea of pinning the opposition high up the pitch and dominating the game from start to finish. Risky? Of course, it is. But at least it should be a fun journey, and supporters will surely appreciate the front-foot football. After all, the United fanbase just want to be excited to watch their team again after the Ten Hag era left them disappointed in a man who failed to deliver anything close to what was prophesied.
One area in which Ten Hag fell short was his handling of the British media. The Dutchman often struggled to communicate his ideas in press conferences and it was tiresome how often he repeated the same arguments. He often made excuses about injuries or pointed to the trophies he won as a response to criticism over his team's poor results and lack of identity.
From what Mario told me, it sounds like Amorim has a charismatic personality much better suited to dealing with the British press and if he is similar to Mourinho in terms of character then he will more than hold his own. We all know how brutal the media in England can be so Amorim must communicate his ideas better than Ten Hag did if he hopes to avoid constant pressure.
Amorim's rapid rise as coach at such a young age does naturally draw comparisons to fellow Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho and although their styles have very few similarities, if Amorim can achieve even some of Mourinho's success then he will have a great career.
His challenge is a tough one: to turn an average team with a weak mentality into a great team with a winning mentality. But if successful, the rewards will be enormous. Amorim will have achieved what managers with far more experience couldn't, bringing an end to the post-Ferguson curse at Old Trafford.