.”
Whether that universal adoration is still in tact after his first match in England’s revered top flight, remains to be seen.
Amorim’s highly-anticipated debut as United’s latest head coach is a trip to Ipswich Town’s Portman Road on Sunday afternoon. While a meeting with a newly promoted side who boast one win all season may not appear to be particularly daunting, there is an intricate web of competing narratives draped all over the fixture.
Here are the key factors to keep an eye on this weekend.
“Day one we will start with our identity,” Amorim defiantly declared in his first interview at the club. “I think you will see an idea. You could like it or not, I don’t know, but you will see an idea. You will see a positioning. You will see something that we want to reach. You will feel that. This, I can guarantee.”
Success is impossible to conclusively predict in a sport that is shaped so dramatically by luck, but a team’s style of play is one aspect that an elite manager can impact immediately. Amorim has set himself that challenge.
If United are to replicate the approach of his Sporting CP side, they will be expected to press high and hard, funnelling the ball from the flanks into the stride of their centre forward. The Lisbon outfit were willing to cede possession against European opposition – they boasted just 28% of the ball while dismantling Manchester City earlier this month – but tended to dominate in domestic competition.
Above all, Sporting offered a sense of flair and attacking thrust which has been desperately absent from United’s matches all season. The 13-time Premier League champions have scored as many league goals this term as their freshly promoted hosts, Ipswich (12).
“It’s not evolution or …
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