Amorim can revive Man Utd star who dropped a horror 3/10 display v Chelsea

They say a week is a long time in football, and Manchester United have proven that to be true over the last seven days.

It was this time last week that the news of Erik ten Hag’s sacking was announced, and a few days later, it was confirmed that Sporting CP’s highly-rated Reuben Amorim would be taking charge by the end of the month.

However, while this is all undoubtedly cause for optimism, there is a lot of work for the young manager to do once he steps foot in Manchester.

For example, while his new team didn’t lose to Chelsea last night, they didn’t look convincing either, and there’s one starter who needs to be coached back to his best.

United’s underwhelming display vs Chelsea

Now, there is certainly an argument to be made that a draw against the free-flowing Chelsea is a positive result at present, but in reality, neither United nor the Blues looked particularly impressive last night.

Moreover, apart from Bruno Fernandes, who put in a reasonable enough showing with his goal and general play, the Red Devils’ senior players looked significantly off the pace.

For example, Casemiro lost the ball 14 times, lost nine of 14 duels and was dribbled past four times, Marcus Rashford failed in 80% of his dribbles, won one of ten duels and missed one big chance, and Lisandro Martínez misplaced 75% of his long balls, lost 100% of his aerial duels and was incredibly lucky to remain on the pitch following his horror challenge towards the end of the game.

Unsurprisingly, displays such as these did not impress the watching press, and all three of the aforementioned stars received a match rating of just 5/10 from Fraser Watson of the Express.

However, as poor as those three were, the journalist’s lowest rating of the night went to one of the club’s promising youngsters, someone who’s not had the best of seasons so far and someone Amorim will be looking to develop into a superstar.

Alejandro Garnacho’s underwhelming season

Yes, the youngster in question is, of course, the incredibly talented Alejandro Garnacho.

However, despite having bags of natural talent, the Argentine international has underwhelmed so far this season, with his seriously lacklustre display last night potentially being his worst of the campaign.

In his 95 minutes of action, the 20-year-old took 42 touches, misplaced 50% of his crosses, took two shots on target, missed one big chance, lost eight of nine duels, lost the ball 11 times and was offside twice, which are statistics that help to explain the paltry 3/10 rating from Watson.

The journalist wrote of the winger that he ‘looked a shadow of the player who thrived last season’ and that he was ‘sloppy with his passing and decision making’, which is both damning but also highlights the fact that, with the right coaching, he could be incredible.

For example, despite being just 19 at the start of last season, the Madrid-born dynamo ended the campaign with ten goals and five assists in 50 games and generally looked like one of United’s most effective attackers, whereas this year, three of his six goals have come in games against Barnsley and Leicester City in the League Cup, while he’s only scored twice in ten Premier League games.

However, the good news is that with Amorim coming through the door at the end of the month, the young “superstar”, as dubbed by BBC podcaster Gaz Drinkwater, has a chance to start afresh this season, and based on the 39-year-old’s record in Portugal, he could help turn the 20-year-old’s form around.

For example, in his first full season in charge of Sporting, he led them to their first league title in over two decades, largely thanks to the attack scoring 65 league goals across the year, a significant improvement on the 49 they managed the year prior.

Moreover, the Lisbon-based side racked up 96 league goals last season and have already scored 35 this year, suggesting that the up-and-coming coach knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to getting the most out of his attacking talent.

Ultimately, Garnacho has been underwhelming this season, but based on his innate talent and Amorim’s proven track record of supercharging attacks, the young winger could be back to his very best in no time at all.