Manchester United made an astonishing number of mistakes before ultimately firing Erik ten Hag, but Ruben Amorim made the poorest choice of all this season.
10. Wolves support for Gary O’Neil
It resembled that image of a man holding a sandwich so absurdly tight that his thumb nearly pierced through it, prompting someone to suggest he loosen his grip since no one would snatch it away.
"I noticed he was associated with the England position," said Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs just before O’Neil and five staff members received four-year contract renewals. "I understand." Other teams ought to consider him. Upon meeting him, we sensed there could be something unique about him.
However, he wasn't deluding himself. In April, it was proposed that O’Neil should apply for the vacant Liverpool position, while Manchester United assessed his fit amid The Great And Hilarious Undermining Of Erik Ten Hag. Chelsea likely took a glance as well; it appears to be the sort of action they would undertake.
There was undoubtedly a valid reason for retaining O’Neil after he took over from Julen Lopetegui at the start of the season and led Wolves to a fairly secure position without a pre-season and a less-than-ideal transfer strategy, but it was apparent that an extension wasn’t especially required for a manager who still had two years left on his contract.
Wolves concluded the previous season with two victories out of 13 and kicked off this season with one win in 12 as O’Neil shifted from rumors about potential promotions to news about possibly losing his job, which eventually happened a few games later than expected.
If Wolves intended to support O’Neil, providing help in the transfer market could have been more beneficial than the details of his contract.
9. Arsenal acquiring no players in the winter
‘Arsenal understands that recognizing but not confronting the looming threat beside their season is, at best, a strategic risk,’ it was stated in the Premier League January transfer window losers article, ten days after which Kai Havertz was sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a hamstring injury.
It could all still simply be the preliminary step towards Champions League success, as every player in the squad gets a chance up front, leading to Barcelona's inability to handle Neto's center-forward style in Munich by May.
However, it looks like an unnecessary chaos as the fifth consecutive season without trophies approaches its conclusion, which Mikel Arteta cannot deflect by referencing two Community Shields.
When they required one last effort in the transfer market, Arteta and his team secured only two seemingly temporary strikers in Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino, while the Raheem Sterling loan has been an undeniable letdown.
Additional factors contribute to the likelihood of a potential hat-trick of second-place finishes in the Premier League, but the intense concentration on The Process during the winter seemed particularly unexciting.
8. West Ham hires Lopetegui
David Moyes had begun to agree that it was “the right choice for both sides.” He had attained an unexpectedly high position at West Ham and departed from a stability that enabled them to advance in search of greater achievements, while his reputation had been rebuilt over four-and-a-half years of reliability.
It is not worthwhile to act as if the relationship hadn’t become outdated, and the end of his contract offered a natural conclusion for both to progress.
The success Moyes has had since returning to Everton has highlighted his clear abilities as a coach, but West Ham was right to tackle his intrinsic weaknesses by choosing a different managerial path; appointing his inferior Spanish counterpart in Lopetegui proved to be the error.
West Ham characterized the 58-year-old as "highly regarded for his clear football philosophy, adaptable tactical strategy, competitive spirit, and management abilities" upon his appointment. However, his absence of notable football principles, a tactical style so variable it resembled stagnant water, and management skills that became infamous due to two public disputes with first-team players within seven months contributed to his eventual and unavoidable downfall.
With Lopetegui in charge, West Ham netted 24 goals, allowed 39, and earned 23 points across 20 Premier League matches, despite significant summer investment. Three days after his dismissal, a completely broke Everton hired Moyes, and they have scored 15 goals, conceded nine, and earned 15 points in eight games. Even Guillem Balague cannot act as though that isn’t a highly uncomplimentary comparison.
7. Ipswich and their keepers
This season in the Premier League, no player has committed more mistakes resulting in a shot than Aro Muric (five). Ipswich acquired the goalkeeper for £15m and have had to bench him twice, the latest being permanent since bringing in a noticeable improvement in Alex Palmer.
It is impossible to assert unequivocally that Ipswich would have performed better this season if they hadn’t invested so much time and money on a goalkeeper who has seldom, if ever, demonstrated any level of Premier League adequacy, but one fact is clear: they would undoubtedly have performed better this season had they not spent so much time and money on a keeper who has seldom, if ever, demonstrated any level of Premier League adequacy.
6. Chelsea and their goalkeepers
No player has committed more mistakes resulting in a shot in the Premier League this season than Robert Sanchez (five). Chelsea acquired the goalkeeper two years back for £25m and have had to bench him this season due to his ongoing insistence on being Robert Sanchez.
It’s impossible to definitively claim that Chelsea would have performed better this season if they hadn’t invested over £1 billion since the summer of 2022 in a squad that still has no goalkeeper exceeding the painfully average level, yet one fact stands out: their most recent strategy for the role is absurdly foolish.
5. The summer of Manchester City
Pep Guardiola stated himself: “In the summer, the club considered it, and I replied ‘no, I don’t wish to make any signings.’” I depended heavily on these individuals and believed I could accomplish it once more. "However, following the injuries – incredible – perhaps we ought to have taken that step."
Rodri's absence for most, if not all, of the season has accelerated those transfer strategies Manchester City paused at their manager's request, but even if he had been present the entire time, it was evident Guardiola made a significant gamble.
In hindsight, the champions had committed several transfer errors, resulting in an older squad desperately requiring new talent. Savinho has performed admirably given the situation, and Ilkay Gundogan’s knees deserve commendation for not giving way under the immense pressure, but that summer was the latest in a succession that positioned Manchester City for disappointment. Maybe not enough attention has been given to the choice to sell Julian Alvarez, who has netted more than double the goals of all except clearly one of his ex-teammates at Atletico.
4. Leicester exchanging Cooper for Van Nistelrooy
It is still unclear what Leicester anticipated when they replaced the beloved Championship-winning manager Enzo Maresca with Cooper during the summer.
There is understanding of their need to respond swiftly after their coach was taken just before their Premier League comeback, but the significant danger of hiring a Guardiola follower and allowing him a season to shine under perfect circumstances indicated that the necessity for a contingency plan was evident from the outset.
Over three weeks elapsed from the moment Maresca's exit became inevitable to Cooper being announced as his replacement. Subsequently, when a more defensively minded manager led a Championship-quality team and a League Two-level defense to 16th place with ten points after 12 matches, he was dismissed and the owner criticized the players.
Van Nistelrooy, who replaced Cooper, has secured seven points across 15 matches. It has been a complete lesson in how not to function as a newly-promoted Premier League team from a club that appears unlikely to reclaim that position in the near future.
3. All actions taken by Southampton after May 26
"I am passionate about our work and I’m not going to alter it; I’m confident it will begin – it likely already has – that we won’t perform this way in the Premier League, along with all the scrutiny and intensity that will accompany that," stated Russell Martin after defeating Leeds in the Championship play-off final. "We must demonstrate our values and ensure we accept it while remaining true to ourselves."
During one of his victory speeches, the Southampton manager stated, “to me, winning like this is the best way.” He failed to state if it was the most effective method to lose; maybe he chose to gain a season’s experience of doing it weekly before proceeding.
Those critics were justified in expressing their immediate concerns. This campaign has been an absolute failure, but importantly, it was not surprising. The issues with approach, recruitment, and tactical rigidity were clearly evident well before the situation resolved at Wembley, and hardly any effort was made to tackle them.
Funds were allocated, yet solely for the puzzling addition of the strikeforce from the equally dismal relegated Sheffield United team, some entirely unproven defenders at the highest level, and Aaron Ramsdale, who previously confessed he struggles to focus for the entire 90 minutes of a match, which genuinely appears less than ideal during a relegation struggle when confronted with 20 shots each game.
They suddenly realized in mid-December that Martin, much like Kompany, would unapologetically prioritize his own values over the team's in a bid for a more significant role, and by then, it was too late for any actions other than striving for something above the least expected outcome: Derby 2007/08. And they still haven't resolved that because, to repeat, Southampton has never genuinely attempted to be anything other than a complete disaster.
2. Manchester United hiring a system manager
Nearly a year has gone by since Manchester United's technical director, Jason Wilcox, was assigned the task of creating a 'game model' for teams of all age categories within the club to follow.
It comprised an evaluation of manager Erik ten Hag and his capability to apply that philosophy, along with ‘guaranteeing that recruitment moves away from a random approach and is instead focused on a particular methodology, identity, and style of play’.
The Daily Telegraph article contained these two paragraphs:
However, prior to the German FA decisively ruling out Nagelsmann last week, and disregarding the manager's personal desires, there was an understanding within United's new leadership that their existing team is not tailored for a coach who typically uses a back three with attacking wing backs.
To put it differently, they can’t abruptly shift between systems simply to accommodate a coach, regardless of his abilities, especially not when they haven't even started to slowly dismantle a mismatched squad.
Less than seven months later, Manchester United had supported Ten Hag, brought in two more players he had previously collaborated with, dismissed Ten Hag at significant cost, and hired a costly replacement whose rigid philosophy relies entirely on employing the exact formation the club had openly stated their team was unable to execute.
Liverpool had sufficient reason to dismiss Amorim for that reason; Manchester United evaluated his application during the summer, invested around £200m on less compatible new players, and then signed him by November.
Regarding that 'game model', Manchester United U21s sit 9th in Premier League 2 after losing their last match while employing an offensive 4-3-3 formation, indicating the path is clearer than before.
1. The system manager not instructing Manchester United to leave.
Still, the most foolish choice of all was Amorim in failing to challenge the facade of a regime built on instability and redundancies, whose sheer incompetence has been harshly and consistently revealed for months.
“For three days, I expressed my desire to remain until the season concluded, but then I was informed that it wasn’t feasible,” he remarked on the brink of his last matches as Sporting coach in November.
It was a demand filled with an unimaginable level of pressure, and as Amorim mentioned last month: “I realized it would be difficult and a gamble, but it’s Manchester United, and you can’t refuse.”
However, he truly ought to have, as Manchester United essentially had no one else besides Van Nistelrooy in sight, and the recent three months at Leicester indicate that the Dutchman’s remarkable temporary tenure at Old Trafford could have ended shortly after the initial excitement waned, allowing ample opportunity for someone to assume the role permanently and more smoothly in the summer.
If not, the "never" choice appears quite enticing. Amorim has had to implement his scorched earth strategy within just one half-season, resulting in a disastrous start from a manager who, at 39 and seemingly on an unstoppable ascent, would have faced similar pivotal career opportunities again where he was in control.
Manchester United managed a poorly executed managerial transition; Amorim ought to have recognized this and fled when they approached.
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