After a dreadful performance and a 3-0 with no contest, one wonders what Ruben Amorim found to laugh about. This is just one of the questions that should be put to the Portuguese manager, in an attempt to make sense of last night’s disaster.
The unanswered questions for Amorim
One could ask him why all this rotation. One could ask what drives him to keep relying on mediocre players such as Estupinan and Loftus-Cheek. Granted, standing by your players and showing faith is part of a manager’s job. But by the same token, the manager must also take his own responsibility.
The decision to commit, as early as the summer, to this list of unsuitable players — to which I would also add De Winter — was Amorim’s. To err is human, but to persevere is diabolical. In light of these disgraceful performances, the most logical solution would be to start addressing the situation.
Tactical mistakes and players out of position
A manager who is aware of the objective shortcomings of his squad should be pushing hard as early as January to fix them. These are good intentions for the future, but one can start making amends right away. Beyond stopping the insistence on clearly harmful players, a start can be made by putting players in their natural positions.
Last night, players who have been performing well, such as Hutchinson and Moreira, were played out of position, and this had a heavy impact on their individual performances and on the match itself. These too are mistakes for which the Portuguese manager should take responsibility, rather than talking about a match affected by a refereeing incident. The result of all this was a dull, depressing and pointless non-performance.
The risk that everything will be forgotten
Furthermore, there is a very real risk that those in charge will simply forget what happened. It’s simple: all it takes is one win in the next few games with a patchy performance, just like those we’ve already seen. Because this is Milan’s season: just when you try to smile, three slaps in the face bring you back down to earth. And that brings us back to the opening question: what on earth was he laughing about?
