Man Utd crisis blamed on Amorim, Wilcox, Ratcliffe, Bruno, Sesko…

Editor F365 28 Aug 2025 1:51 PM

Man Utd transfers Sesko Amorim Ratcliffe

Ruben Amorim, Benjamin Sesko and Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Manchester United’s current woes are being left at the feet of pretty much everyone. Can this all be Ruben Amorim’s fault?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Jason Wilcox also get a kicking while nobody is convinced by Benjamin Sesko.

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

Time to go, Ruben

We aren’t progressing. He is too stubborn to accept that, too pessimistic to offer a solution and too stupid to see that his formation isn’t working. Amorim Out.
Kay

…As commented on by many, many fans of United or otherwise – that was *dire* and very embarrassing. As a Liverpool fan I’m long since past laughing. I can’t laugh at the same joke for a year or more , especially when the joke manager is so dire.

So very many problems that need sorting, like, immediately. The midfield is absolutely pony, their goalkeepers are beyond useless and their expensive new striker is a coward and a useless one at that. That miss at the end? No wonder Sesko has been on the bench until now.

There genuinely is, 100%, a pretty good Premier League team in there somewhere. My goodness though, it won’t be located by the current regime.

So of course the main problem is Amorim. It’s so obvious to absolutely *everyone* that maybe even the United bigwigs have noticed.

The rigid tactical inflexibility to a tactic that actually has shown zero indication that it’s the magic bullet Amorim seems to think it is. His extreme honesty, for which he is often praised, seems like a fountain of depressing wrist-slitting negativity to me. I’d certainly get sick of hearing it if I was there. Yeah sure, it’s going very badly, well done for noticing boss, but how are you going to fix it?

Whatever the answer to that conundrum, I guarantee you it isn’t to hide in your dugout hoping for the best. I’d not seen anyone try that one before. Imagine, if you will, the likes of Rashford et all hiding in the corner of the field during a bad performance and praying no one noticed. I suspect Amorim would not be excessively complimentary.

I think it is now legitimately fair to say that , even if *maybe* Amorim isn’t the worst United manager ever, he absolutely and completely is the worst one for over 50 years.

That’s quite a bad thing big Jim, in case you haven’t noticed. It’s time to utilise some more of that money you saved from firing tea ladies and get a new gaffer in.

*Again*.
James, Liverpool

…Everything points to the match against Burnley being the ultimate test: if the team doesn’t get a win, Amorim could be fired before the September international break…

Dear Heavenly Father…
Muthama Gitonga, Nyeri (Mount Kenya)

Don’t be deluded, Man Utd fans

Not being funny here but some of us have been saying it for quite some time. United are absolutely rotten. Lots of United fans were expecting top four pushes and I’ve even seen some absolute melts say we should be pushing for the title.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Been saying it all summer, even with the signings: the first task is to avoid relegation, the next midtable and from there let’s think about top half. All I care about is by the end of the season we get to see some football played. We’ve actually seen a bit in the Arsenal game and for 15 minutes in the Fulham game. But then one of the goalkeepers does something stupid and the team melts.

United have a massive goalkeeper problem and no one in midfield with any legs. If you think Bruno can play in a midfield two then you’re very much mistaken. With a goalkeeper, United probably have 4 points in the league and escape Grimsby with a stinky win. With a midfield as well they quite conceivably have 3 wins from three (though I wouldn’t have bet on it).

If United don’t sign a goalkeeper and midfielder before Monday then we absolutely know that Wilcox doesn’t know what he’s doing. You don’t get a manager in that plays a certain way and then not furnish him with the required talent.

Amorim will quite rightly be considering his future and the sympathy is fast fading. If he does stay, someone needs to make him watch penalties. Hiding when your team is taking penalties is absolutely pathetic and gives zero confidence to your team. And if nothing else he should have to endure this when he makes us put up with watching absolute dross on a twice weekly basis. I don’t think he’s getting a midfielder so he needs to get over himself quickly and figure out how to get the best out of what he’s got. Maybe he is? Who knows.

On a more positive note, United lost at home to York City at the peak of our powers. We had a decent side out but the keeper made a howler and we never recovered. Shit happens. We did the double that season. When we stay up on the last day of the season with a win at Brighton we’ll all look back at this and laugh.

Dear god.

But also, and most importantly can I just say well done to Grimsby. Even though United were poor and with a competent keeper we would have won, I think they played us off the park for a good sixty minutes. Usually if United get beat by lesser opposition it’s because we’ve shot ourselves in the foot and not turned up. Whist those two things are still true I think Grimsby had a game plan, showed great application and concentration and most importantly played some good football. Best of luck to them for the rest of the season, we’ll be keeping an eye on their results.
Ashmundo

MORE ON MAN UNITED ON F365
👉 ‘Looking like a right plonker’ – What the pundits had to say about Ruben Amorim and his tactics board
👉 ‘Anonymous’ and ‘spineless’ Benjamin Sesko destroyed for letting nine United players go first in shootout
👉 Amorim and Man Utd reach sack-worthy new nadir as Sesko shrinks in shocking Grimsby defeat

…A year ago, I wrote in to say Man Utd should not sack their managers – it’s always the players. I got pelters from United fans (not football fans, 2 very different things) who are totally convinced it’s ten Hag holding the club back. Fast forward to today, and the fans are calling for Amorim’s sacking. This is an insane fanbase that does not care about rebuilding nor the club. They just want to win the bantz.

It’s the players, ya mongs. I offered a roadmap to rebuild within 3 windows, and here it is again with tweaks. You’re welcome.

GET. RID. OF. BRUNO. As captain, his moaning and non-affecting of play and as of last weak, non-conversion of a penalty due to the ref’s bump, is toxic and morale-sapping.

Keeper. C’mon guys. C’mon.

Defence. Maguire is still there. So’s the world’s shortest defender. Are you guys even serious? Build it around Yoro + deLigt and 2 speedy wingers.

Midfield: Out goes Bruno, Casemiro, Ugartz. And Amorim does not rate the world’s best DM, Kobee. Sounds like a total new midfield? Better get started.

Attack: I’m happy with Mbuemo and Cunha, with Shhh.. Esco. You got 1 thing right.

Every window, replace a department. I’d go midfield next, leave non of the old players lingering around like a bad smell. Get back to Top 8 and work your way up.

But it’s Man Utd. They won’t do the right thing and will keep fumbling around for a new manager, who has to then put round peg in square holes. What’s the famous AA saying? You can’t be fixed if you don’t want to be fixed.
Vinnie Pee

On the death of a Man Utd ego

I was born in ‘83 so pretty much my footballing education supporting United was based on winning and when we lost it would literally ruin my weekend. In my more arrogant moments I would find myself wondering how people supported relegation threatened teams, how did they process all the misery ….and here we are.

Last night however was a breakthrough, I hit the zen spot, footballing Satori. My American girlfriend said she had never seen anything like it as myself and my dad expressed anger, sadness and joy all at once. Cheering and laughing at Harry M doing his Bambi on steroids on ice skates impression across the turf. Calling it in real time as Dalot looked up purposefully drove forward all serious for 5 steps then without rhyme or reason stopped and passed it sideways.

The penalties were painfully hilarious, Onana looked absolutely bewildered as he palmed another one into his own net, starring at his hands like they were tentacles. I’ve never laughed so much and been in so much pain, like an out of body experience but where do we go now?? Having reached some sort of ego crushing peak of every emotion, I have no idea what comes next but at least it doesn’t ruin me anymore.
Lomas (Awakening after ego death, do you feel it too Ruben)

How bad is Benjamin Sesko?

I know it’s very early days, but the game last night certainly raised questions (and eyebrows) with regards to Bejamin Sesko.

Firstly, even though I had the game on last night, I must admit I didn’t sit and watch every second. This said, I genuinely can’t recall hearing the commentators call his name once in the first half. Now I know the transfer fee isn’t Sesko’s fault, but (and with no disrespect to Grimsby) this can’t be right for a £70m plus striker against League 2 opposition.

Secondly, how can he be the last outfield player to take a penalty? He is the centre forward, and he’s played the full game. Scoring goals of any sort is literally what he is paid for. Can you really imagine the likes of Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Kevin Phillips etc not INSISTING to be in the first five (and probably first, let’s be honest), rather than wanting to go last?

For United fans, my first point should be a big concern, even allowing for a lack of match fitness/sharpness.

My second point, however? This for me points to something being badly wrong in that dressing room.
Andy Steele

Imagine losing to this Man Utd…

We’ve all had a good laugh at Man Utd and we’ll all probably have more laughs at them this season.

Had an awful thought though, imagine what it’ll feel like if the team you support loses to this United team?

It’ll probably feel like losing to a league 2 team…
Chris, NUFC

Do Man Utd need their own Mikel Arteta?

As they say in the 90’s children’s movie classic the Little Giants: “Football* is 80% Mental and 40% Physical”
(Great movie btw)

If the ‘team’ aren’t all pulling in the same direction, just one player disjointed can impact effectiveness. But when you have 3, 4, 5 players either off the pace (rusty, unfit), or worse, not putting the effort in (bad attitude/apathy etc) then the negative impact is compounded.

Unfortunately at Man U it does seem that there are too many still that are not on the same page, and has been the case for a long while for different reasons. Ronaldo, Rashford, Sancho, Garnacho, Bruno, Mainoo (to sell or not), Mount (fitness), Onana (mistakes), Mourinho, LVG, Solskaer, Amorim, Glazers, Woodward, Ratcliffe, fans, media all causing their own levels of chaos and disharmony. It’s the Owners/Players/Managers, they are all equally to blame for the mess.

Imagine an equation putting numerical operators i.e. +, -, x , / between each aspect of the team or club. If they are all +’s then great, If there is even 1 or 2 x’s (multipliers) amazing!. But the moment you start having -‘s or worst /’s then the final result is way below organisations where most parts are + and x’s.

As an Arsenal fan, our club was on the brink of this same situation a few years ago.The final Wenger years was the spark, and then it was progressively getting worse. Some more of the same and the club would have tipped over the edge and hit freefall. The harder we tried the deeper the hole we kept digging ourselves into. And again this was not the fault of one element, rather a mess compounded by ownership, management, players, tactics, fans and media. How this has turned around is nothing short of a miracle, and while credit should be shared amongst all involved, the catalyst for the change was Mikel Arteta.

Say what you want about his methods, but he found the right mix of passion, strategy and bullshit to harmonize a disjointed club heading in the wrong direction. Tough decisions were made to move on big names. There was also luck.

In Saka, you couldn’t have picked a more likable player to get behind. Louis Dunford and the new anthem, may be cringe to outsiders but further strengthened the bond between the fanbase and the team again. As a fan of course we want to win a trophy/championship again, but it is not the be all and end all. If we are ultimately beaten by better teams along the way, that is the nature of professional sport and life. Which is why the vast majority of fans will not subscribe to Arteta ‘must win’ or he’s a ‘failure’ nonsense.

He is possibly the most influential and transformative Manager for Arsenal since Wenger, even if he never wins another match let alone another trophy. Rival fans can laugh at his cartoons, LEGO hair and lack ‘success’. He may never get a statue outside the Emirates, but he damn sure deserves one.

How do Man U turn this around? Well that I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to.
Hats

This is normal from Man Utd

Please keep the laughter and jokes aimed at Manchester United to a minimum please. This is absolutely normal for them. Outside of Busby and Ferguson (2 of the best managers ever), Manchester United have always been a poor team/club. Those two periods were very much the outliers in a 147 year history. This is the real Manchester United. They have just reverted to type. This is normal for them if you take away recency bias.
Weldoninhio, BAC

Man Utd have the Cheese Touch…

Until evidence proves otherwise, my working theory is that in winning the Europa league, Spurs passed the “Cheese Touch” over to Man Utd.

Man Utd are now the Spursiest of Spurs and will remain so until they can pass on the Spurs cooties by somehow winning a cup final.

Spurs will now be a competent top 6 team and united will finish anywhere from 8th to 18th.

Have a great day.
Nick, Kent

A second for Scotland please

I know there’s a lot to cover today what with Manchester United continuing to be Manchester United, but can we all please take a moment to reflect on how hilariously badly the Scottish teams did in Europe this week?
Jeremy Aves