THE pressure is on Ruben Amorim after the winter window closed without any significant Manchester United incoming business.
It is hard to believe Amorim really only wanted to bring in a 20-year-old left-back and a kid from Arsenal’s youth team – even if he was evidently desperate to get shot of Marcus Rashford and Antony.
Financial issues, it seems, lay at the heart of United’s lack of serious work in the market despite a miserable season so far.
Many United fans were calling on Amorim and Ineos to do more in the winter window.
But perhaps out of financial necessity, rather than choice, he may have stumbled onto the same path that propelled Liverpool and Arsenal back to where they are now.
To do it properly, change takes time. It is about doing it right, rather than for the sake of acting, only to have to start all over a few months later.
The Old Trafford faithful, looking up from 13th, may not want to laud what happened at Anfield and The Emirates when those two clubs made their most important managerial changes of the past decade.
Yet the initial actions of both Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta, where neither opted for a grand cull and revamp in terms of personnel at the first opportunity either, maybe the example Amorim can benefit from following.
What mattered, at Liverpool and Arsenal, was a cultural reset. A reboot of attitude and mentality. Led from the top, filtering all the way through the club.
Exactly what is required at Old Trafford now.
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Klopp, in particular, inherited a mess when he replaced Brendan Rodgers at Anfield in October 2015.
His first side, in a goalless draw at Spurs, included Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakha and Alberto Moreno at the back, Emre Can and Lucas Leiva in midfield and a bench that included Jordan Ibe, Jerome Sinclair and Kolo Toure.
Klopp’s first decision, his key one, was to alter the mindset and approach of the players at his disposal, rather than a wholesale switch of personnel.
Indeed, the only player signed by Liverpool in January 2016 was Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic, immediately loaned back to Red Star Belgrade and whose Liverpool career added up to just 16 appearances across three seasons.
It was not until the summer window, when 16 players – including no fewer than six in that initial match day squad at White Hart Lane – departed and Joel Matip, Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum were among the arrivals, that the Klopp player makeover began in earnest.
The real work, though, had already been started off the pitch, at the training ground and in the mentality of the dressing room.
Klopp made a point of learning the names of all 80 staff at the club’s Melwood base, introducing them to the players.
It was a signal of intent. One club. One goal. Together – from the humblest groundsman to the star striker. A bond was created.
Likewise at Arsenal, Arteta, appointed just before Christmas 2019, dabbled only in the loan market in his first window.
Three in, with Emile Smith Rowe and defender Mavropanos departing temporarily.
The main squad changes came afterwards. January arrivals Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares had their loans made permanent, with Brazilian defender Gabriel, Thomas Partey and Willian added.
Critically, also, the clear-out was ramped up over the second and third windows, with Henrikh Mkhitarian, Mesut Ozil and defenders Sokratis and Mustafi all out by January 2021, swiftly followed by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Indeed, by August 2022, less than three years after he arrived, only five of the players on his first team-sheet – Bukayo Saka, Smith Rowe, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Martinelli and Reiss Nelson – were still in the building.
Like Klopp, too, Arteta was determined to force through, no matter how uncomfortable it was, an attitudinal change.
Marking his fifth anniversary at the helm in December, the Spaniard recalled: “The first thing was that I got everyone together, the staff and the players, and I told them what I thought about them and why this wasn’t working.
“If we were going to continue like this, it was never going to work.”
He added: “We had to get back all together with the same agenda and with the same intentions.
“The foundations have to be really strong in order to create something.
“We had to create the right culture for our club, an environment where, first of all, everybody has to respect each other, that we work together and express the passion at how lucky we are to be where we are.”
Of course, what helped both – unlike Amorim – was evidence on the pitch.
Klopp lost just one of his first 11 games at the helm, Arteta had one defeat in his initial 14 games. It built a bulwark for when things became tougher.
Amorim, by contrast, lost six out his first 11 after replacing Erik ten Hag.
And successes have been in short supply since then, too, adding up to eight victories in 19 matches, only four wins out of 13, plus seven losses, in the Prem.
Inconsistent team selection reached another level when he opted to play Kobbie Mainoo as an effective false nine in Sunday’s shocker against Palace, leaving both Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund on the bench for 70 minutes.
That only six of the team that started Amorim’s first match at Ipswich were in the initial side on Sunday added to that sense of uncertainty.
The one major signing, Danish left-back Patrick Dorgu, is now pitched into a club that seems unsure of its next steps.
Amorim will want to believe that sending Rashford and Antony out of the door, seemingly for good, is a statement to the entire squad.
It will have to be. Now, though, it is down to the manager. There is no room for excuses.
Jurgen Klopp's first steps at Liverpool
Here is a look at how Jurgen Klopp started to change Liverpool...
Klopp first game v Spurs Oct 2015
Mignolet; Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno; Coutinho (Ibe), Can, Milner, Lallana (Allen), Lucas; Origi
Bench:
Teixeira, Bogdan, Randall, Sinclair, Toure
Transfers that summer:
James Milner, Robert Firmino, Joe Gomez, Danny Ings, Nathaniel Clyne, Christian Benteke
January:
Marko Grujic (straight back out on loan)
Season results:
Finished 8th, lost CC final to City on pens, lost europa League final to Sevilla
Real change in summer:
In: Matip, Karius Mane, Klavan, Manninger, Wijnaldum £67.9m
Out: 16 inc J Enrique, Toure, Sinclair, Canos, Toure, Teixeira, Sinclair, Skrtel, Ibe, Allen, Benteke, Balotelli, Ilori £76.5m
Mikel Arteta's first steps at Arsenal
Here is a look at how Mikel Arteta started to change Arsenal...
Arteta first game v Everton Dec 2019
Leno; Chambers, Luiz, Maitland-Niles, Saka; Torreira, Smith Rowe (Willock), Xhaka; Martinelli, Aubameyang (Lacazette), Nelson
Bench:
Pepe, Mustafi, Guendouzi, Mavrapanos, Martinez
Season results:
8th, FA Cup win
Transfers:
Jan in: (loan) Ceballos, Mari, Soares
Out (loan) Smith Rowe, Mavrapanos
Summer:
In: Mari, Soares, Willian, Gabriel, Partey Total spend £81.6m
Out: Mkhitarian, Martinez Total received £28m
Winter:
In: (loan) Dani Ceballos, Martin Odegaard
Out: Ozil, Sokratis, Mustafi
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