I’m someone who tends to not take much interest in the Premier League, a league that sold its soul a long time ago and whose hype is much greater than the actual product on show…
Whilst flicking through the Sport news yesterday however I was drawn towards an interview with Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim. It was in regards to the Portuguese tactician finally changing his system in their last match as his Manchester United side defeated Newcastle.
Amorim is a highly rated young manager who received plenty of praise for developing his former club Sporting Lisbon into a winning machine in Portugal, as well as claiming many scalps in the Champions League. This led to him to become a wanted man at many top clubs throughout Europe, with Man United being the club he eventually chose last year.
So why am I discussing this on a Celtic site I hear you ask?
Well the reason is Amorim plays the same style of football as our current manager Wilfried Nancy. He prefers the three at the back system with roaming wingbacks, and much like Nancy, his system has received plenty of negative feedback in both the media and with his clubs own fans.
Like Nancy when Amorim came to Manchester he backed himself and set about implementing his preferred system right away. Much like Nancy, his side failed to adapt right away and the manager was questioned relentlessly about why he was so determined to stick to his philosophy and refused to adapt when it was clear his players were struggling to get to grips with their new managers ideas.
Amorim has always come across as a confident young manager, similar to our own, who believes 100% in what he is doing and won’t change due to pressure from the media or the fans.
Not even the Pope could make him change his system
Amorim famously came out with the quote that not even the Pope could make him change his system, thankfully for his sake, Nancy hasn’t came out with anything quite as strong as that. Yet. So it’s for those reasons that this story has become such big news, Amorim finally reverting to a back four for the first time during his reign, mainly due to multiple absentees in his squad. The fact that they won, and kept a clean sheet for only the second time this season, has shone a light on whether Amorim should have changed things up earlier.
I found it extremely interesting that he has stated that he could only make the switch in systems when his side were doing sufficiently well – otherwise it would look like he was bowing to external noise.
He goes on to say that if he had bowed to the constant pressure in the media for him to change things earlier, that would have been the end of him as a manager as his players would have known that was the reason he changed. He also states he only changed things due to the amount of absentees and that when he gets players back he will be going back to his old system.
The situation seems almost identical to Nancy’s at Celtic.
Wilfried’s absolutely committed to this system. Even though he hasn’t brought the Pope into it yet, it’s clear to all he won’t be changing his preferred style of play. If he was going to change it would have happened by now, due to missing so many important players at the moment who would definitely suit this style more.
Players like Alastair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota who would certainly be an upgrade on the likes of Luke McCowan, Anthony Ralston and Yang, with all due respect to those three.
What Amorim says is correct. If the manager was to bow to the constant pressure from the media or the fans then he would look weak, which would ultimately lead to the players questioning him and losing faith in his vision.
As fans we need to realise this and give the manager the space and time to implement his style and see how it plays out. As I’ve stated before, the board aren’t going to sack him anytime soon. They brought him in knowing full well the system he would be bringing with him. In his job interviews he would have explained this clearly and it’s obviously what the club wanted, even knowing that it would probably take time for the players to get to grips with it.
So what’s the point of us constantly critiquing it all?
How about we let him get on with it, let the players adapt and hopefully watch as he’s given the funds to bring players in he knows will fully suit his system. How long should he get? Personally I think he will get to the end of the season, whether certain fans like it or not, and I think it’s only then that we can fully start to judge whether his style will work for us.
I think with the right personnel his system can be hugely effective in Scotland, similar to how Ange’s team dominated. When our injuries clear up and the manager is able to bring some new players in that are an upgrade on what we already have then I can see us absolutely running over teams domestically.
Yes, we will be more susceptable to shipping goals at the other end but with better defensive players, and familiarity with what is required of them, we will certainly improve in that department.
I still think we will win the league this season, and hopefully the Scottish Cup too.
We will improve the more time these players get working within this new system. Personally I can see improvements already. I’m also enjoying watching games a lot more than I was under the last days or Rodgers and dare I say it even under Martin O’Neill. The one worry I have is Europe, especially if we are lucky enough to make the Champions League next season. I will write an article in relation to the difficulties we may have utilising this system there at a later date, but for now I think its imperative we continue to get behind the manager and the team.
A win against Motherwell tonight will be huge, leaving us with the opportunity against theRangers to go top of the table on Saturday. Win these next two games and I genuinely think we will end up running away with the league.
The confidence will be sky high and our nearest rivals in the race for the title will be rocked. This team need the fans full backing over the next few days.
Back the players. Back the manager. Let’s show these pretenders what we are made of.
Conall McGinty
Majic, Stan and the King of Japan, plus Big Bad John….
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Martin O’Neil played a 3-5-2 and look how that worked! If CCV was fit and Scales been calmer we would have been much better. CCV missing is massive along with Johnson for the right side. However, Scales has been great most of the seson but since the new manager came in he has looked uncomfortable. Wither that is due to him asking too much of him with the ball at his feet or because we play higher up the pitch and when a counter happens he realy is last man and is uncomfortable who knows?
One thing I will say is if we get a right sided back 3 guy like the Mexican being mentioned, CCV fit and Trusty on the left. with Tierney and Johnson ahead of them then that could be formidable!
He needs to win games but if we remain within reach of Hearts he’ll be allowed leeway. The moment we lose momentum and a g appears or we are overtaken by Rangers (and Motherwell!) his time will be up.
Losing ground to our main rivals will finish it for him. He is perilously close to that scenario.