Ruben Amorim has now benefited from something that Manchester United fans would have expected Erik ten Hag to do in the latter’s Old Trafford reign.
The 40-year-old Manchester United manager has been in the Old Trafford hot seat since 2024 after he succeeded Erik ten Hag at the Premier League club.
The 7 managers contacted by Ineos about the Man United job before Ruben Amorim’s appointment
- Roberto De Zerbi
- Thomas Tuchel
- Graham Potter
- Thomas Frank
- Xavi
- Mauricio Pochettino
- Marco Silva
Ten Hag’s United reign ended in the last Premier League season with his sacking, which subsequently paved the way for Ruben Amorim’s exit from Sporting CP.
Amorim, much like former United manager Ten Hag, has faced his fair share of adversities during his time in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 campaigns so far.
However, the former Sporting CP manager took full advantage of something that Ten Hag effectively failed to capitalise on during the Dutchman’s time at the club.
Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim rolled the dice with an experimental Lisandro Martinez approach that Erik ten Hag previously tried
Manchester United fans noticed Lisandro Martinez’s importance beyond the Red Devils defence and even in a leadership role in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
The 27-year-old United defender climbed off the bench after the break and Lisandro Martinez replaced club skipper Bruno Fernandes in the clash at Villa Park.
However, Martinez was not deployed in defence and instead took up a role in the two-man midfield pivot alongside Manuel Ugarte and later Jack Fletcher.
United might have lost against Villa at the weekend, but Martinez’s performance in the midfield was steady and reinforced his versatility in the first-team squad.
WHAT did you think of Lisandro Martinez’s performance?🇦🇷
Do you want to see him in midfield again?
Erik ten Hag managed Martinez at Ajax before the pair were reunited at Old Trafford, having used the 2022 World Cup winner in midfield at the Dutch club.
However, the 55-year-old former Bayer Leverkusen boss was sceptical about consistently using United defender Martinez in a midfield role on the pitch.
“Daley Blind does not have the running capacity to play in midfield,” Ten Hag told ESPN in 2021, as per the Manchester Evening News in 2023.
“And neither does Martinez.”
Erik ten Hag was expected to tap into Lisandro Martinez’s potential midfield versatility at Man Utd
Ten Hag was entirely dependent on the formidable partnership of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez after the latter was signed from Dutch side Ajax in 2022.
However, the importance of the Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane link-up prevented Ten Hag from experimenting further in the same way Ruben Amorim did.
Ten Hag did deploy former Ajax ace Noussair Mazraoui in various roles in the tail end of his United reign, but it felt like he missed a key trick with Martinez’s abilities.
Following Martinez’s arrival at Old Trafford, ESPN reporter Rob Dawson suggested that the Argentina international could play in midfield for United if needed.
Should Lisandro Martinez be an automatic starter for Man Utd? Whose place does he take?
“In terms of the balance of the squad, I’m surprised we’re not hearing more about Martinez playing midfield,” he told Manchester United’s ‘The Debate’ format in 2022.
“He did that at Ajax occasionally. They’ve got so many centre-halves, they’ve got [Victor] Lindelof, Harry [Maguire], [Raphael] Varane, [Eric] Bailly.
“There’s no reason why not. He can play there [in midfield]: he’s done it before. He [Ten Hag] obviously wants that balance at the back, with the left footer and a right footer. It looks more balanced when you’ve got a left footer.
“If they don’t get a midfielder in, I don’t see why he’s not an option because he’s that type of player, isn’t he?”
Rob Dawson added: “Physical, strong and wins the ball. Good in one-on-one duels and that type of thing.
“Obviously, he’s been bought as a centre-half, but he has to be an option if another midfielder doesn’t come in.”
It feels, more than ever before, that Amorim has shown exactly why Ten Hag became ‘too safe’ with Martinez by not experimenting with him enough in his former United side.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/dcYCEus