Oliver Kay

Absolutely. I think it's partly a product of having so many young players. (Would say the same of Chelsea.) I think it's down to that, rather than the coach — although in both cases, a young coach too, so everyone is learning on the job ....

Premier League Predictions: Chelsea vs Liverpool, Arsenal vs West Ham and the rest of Matchday 7 Who's leading after MD6? And what does our writer, the algorithm, a child and this week's subscriber expect to see on Matchday 7?

Week seven of @theathleticfc.bsky.social Premier League predictions challenge, in which I take on an algorithm, a guest subscriber and a six-year-old.
After six rounds, the algorithm is leading 🫤 and Brighton's inconsistencies are driving me to distraction #BHAFC www.nytimes.com/athletic/667...

How much more misery can Man United take? Podcast Episode · The Athletic FC Podcast · 29/09/2025 · 35m

.@theathleticfc.bsky.social Football Podcast discussing all of the above with @aakinwo.bsky.social and @adamcrafton.bsky.social Not much faith in the Ineos/Amorim project in this discussion #MUFC

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

I agree. And while there's usually a bit of a swings-and-roundabouts scenario with that (e.g. I'd say they deserved at least a draw and possibly a win against Arsenal last month), their performances on the whole have been every bit as bad as the dreadful results suggest — and arguably even worse

Totally agree. They look no closer than the previous regime to finding answers, which is saying something. Think their best decision (not particularly inspired, but perfectly sensible) was hiring Dan Ashworth. They binned him within months after he dared to question the wisdom of appointing Amorim

Thank you very much. Yes I did! It was amazing

How much more misery can Manchester United take? What if things don’t improve, and what if Ruben Amorim's expensively-constructed team continue to lose more games than they win?

There *has* been improvement in performance this season (not y'day). But it's SO meagre. They actually look worse than this time last year in grim final weeks under Ten Hag. Then, as now, people were trying to convince themselves a resurgence was happening. It wasn't
www.nytimes.com/athletic/666...

How much more misery can Manchester United take? What if things don’t improve, and what if Ruben Amorim's expensively-constructed team continue to lose more games than they win?

#MUFC in PL under Amorim
Nov 24: W0 D1 L0
Dec 24: W2 D0 L5
Jan 25: W2 D1 L1
Feb 25: W1 D1 L2
Mar 25: W1 D1 L0
Apr 25: W0 D2 L3
May 25: W1 D0 L3
Aug 25: W1 D1 L1
Sep 25: W1 D0 L2
P33 W9 D7 L17. TERRIBLE
And how many of the nine wins have been genuinely encouraging?
www.nytimes.com/athletic/666...

So much pre-match talk about whether #MUFC could finally win two Premier League games in a row under Amorim. But they've only won nine PL games out of 33. It's been bottom-six form almost from the moment he arrived. They can't even win two PL games in a month these days.

Brentford 3 Manchester United 1 – What next for Amorim? Should Fernandes be on penalties? Why the dire defending? Manchester United woes continued with a calamitous defeat away to Brentford - The Athletic analyses the action

Another grim day for #MUFC: appalling first 20 minutes, listless final hour after pulling a goal back. Brentford worthy 3-1 winners — more energetic, more organised, more imaginative. Full-time analysis with @conor-oneill.bsky.social for @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/666...

Premier League Predictions: Newcastle vs Arsenal, Crystal Palace vs Liverpool and the rest of Matchday 6 Who's leading after MD5? And what does our writer, the algorithm, a child and this week's subscriber expect to see on Matchday 6?

On the way to Brentford v Manchester United. I’ve dared to predict an away win in @theathleticfc.bsky.social Premier League predictions challenge, in which I’m currently trailing an algorithm 🫠

Algorithm also predicting a #mufc win actually 🤖 #bremnu #premierleague

www.nytimes.com/athletic/665...

Defeat to Liverpool shows Everton don’t yet have capacity for striking gold Even with a new stadium, David Moyes' side are shopping in a different market to their Merseyside rivals

In his first spell as #EFC manager, David Moyes used to talk about #LFC "shopping at Harrods" while he worked on a supermarket budget. It wasn't always true back then, but it's certainly true now. Yesterday's derby underlined the difference in budget and firepower
www.nytimes.com/athletic/664...

Yes, agree with that. Interesting that he adapted more successfully than Wenger did when — certainly by mid-2000s — Wenger appeared far more "modern" than Ferguson. It wasn't quite a like-for-like situation because Arsenal were constrained financially. But so were United relative to Chelsea/City

Totally agree. They can be said to have deserved to win that tournament in isolation, but that is having qualified on the basis of winning the Champions League four years earlier with a totally — TOTALLY — different team, which was also nowhere near the best in Europe at the time 🤷‍♂️

Agree. Though whether he would have coped as well if he had been up against Guardiola's Man City and Klopp's Liverpool, I'm not sure. He was brilliant at adapting, but I'm not sure even he would have relished the stylistic challenges (and increased man-management challenges) of the past decade

Yep. But even more curious that Chelsea won the Champions League when they were a mess in 2012 and when they were ... not exactly brilliantly in 2021, but didn't win it at the various points when they were the best team in England under Mourinho, Ancelotti and Conte. It can be a strange tournament!

Definitely. Even at Burnley on Sunday, there were tweaks with every substitution. It ended up pretty much a 2-3-5

I prefer the Pokemon one, to be honest 😄

I like and rate Postecoglou — and "his" football — more than most people in England seem to. But I think winning his Europa League win at Spurs a lot owed a lot more to pragmatism than to his previously unquestioned "philosophy" ...

I'm not his biggest fan. Well, I greatly admired his early work, but there's been far less to admire as time has passed — which, as I said in article, raises question about HIS ability to adapt.

But come on. he's Chelsea's greatest manager, even if Di Matteo and Tuchel were the ones who won the CL!

Wonder if it's too late for me to ask to insert that line ...

Mourinho, Amorim and the wisdom of coaches willing to ‘die’ for an idea Jose Mourinho says coaches willing to die for an idea are "stupid". Is he right? And do pragmatic coaches do any better?

Now with more inviting thumbnail 👇https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6637374/

Absolutely. I made that point in the piece. He's good at adapting in a micro sense — formation tweaks etc — but he has not adapted in a broader sense to changing times over the last decade and more. One trophy (Conference League) in the past eight years

Absolutely, Paul. I made that point in the piece. Mourinho is very good at adapting in a micro sense with tweaks here and there, but he hasn't adapted well to changing times and styles. One trophy (Conference League) in eight years

Mourinho, Amorim and the wisdom of coaches willing to 'die' for an idea

Jose Mourinho: “We see coaches trying to do things that just don’t work and they die. They say, ‘I died, but I died with my idea.’
“My friend, if you die by your ideas, you are stupid.”

On Ruben Amorim, Russell Martin — and modern coaches willing to “die for an idea”
www.nytimes.com/athletic/663...

Agree with all of that — especially re Bruno. It dilutes his strengths and exposes his weaknesses. That's ... sub-optimal. Weirdly, I thought the system worked alright-ish for much yesterday; structure/organisation was ok. But I just think the ceiling of this team, in this system, is incredibly low

To be honest, I felt at the end of 2023/24 season that there was no way they could get any worse. They got *much* worse ...

The next two games will be interesting. If they get 4+ points, there'll be optimism. If they lose both, it will be crisis time — albeit with a gentler run of games to follow

😂

Guardiola, Amorim and troubling times in the state of Manchester There is a spotlight on the Manchester derby, a game where the stakes are raised precisely because the mood right now is so low

Sunday's Manchester derby finds both teams in a state of flux: familiar for #MUFC these days, not so for #MCFC.
Guardiola's vision, crystal-clear during years of huge success, suddenly seems rather blurred. Amorim's vision is clear, his prospects at #MUFC far less so www.nytimes.com/athletic/662...

Yes, I agree. Brighton and now Bournemouth have done that very well, as did Southampton and Leicester in the past — and Wolves in a slightly less ... assured way. I feel like others are coming towards the same way of thinking. And realistically, so many of the best players aged 19-23 are in PL now