22/10/2025
•LONG POST —
I have been critical of Amorim being rigid in his methods in recent times. But, I am so impressed with him from the Liverpool game. He got so much spot on.
— Selecting Cunha because Liverpool defenders were comfortable in air anyway. Still playing long balls knowing that we won’t win many aerial duels was a mark of a genius. Amorim focused on second balls and second balls only. That’s where Slot lost the plot.
— Starting Amad over Dalot was great to see. In the past Amorim sometimes has gone to Dalot for big games. In this game, he trusted his starting RWB. He believed in Amad/Mbeumo partnership being our strength and VVD/Kerkez gap being their weak area in defense. Trusting your strength and attacking opposition weakness is something I have wanted Amorim to do more often.
— Taking both Amad and Casemiro off once they got yellow cards was risky but excellent decision.
Casemiro has been crucial to our good performances this season. But, he is susceptible to yellow cards and Amorim couldn’t risk another red for him. Casemiro playing with a yellow card wasn’t going to be super effective anyway.
Amad was brilliant for us in the first half. But, once he got the yellow he was going to have a hard time against Liverpool’s best attacker, Gakpo.
I think both these decisions could have backfired but credit to Amorim because he made those decisions based on what he saw on the pitch, not based on reputation.
— Subbed Bruno off because he was tired and hardly had any legs for the last 10 mins or so. His performance slowed down. But he is f***ing Bruno Fernandes and got one of the assists of the season before being subbed off.
Subbing Bruno off is something that doesn’t happen often. But, Amorim made the decision based on what he saw on the pitch, not based on reputation.
— Taking Mount off while keeping Cunha was a masterstroke for me. This season, at times Mount has been better than Cunha. Cunha has in the past shown that he gets tired in the second half and doesn’t track back. But, in this game he was immense. Especially the last 10-15 mins he added something to our game we didn’t have for the last few years. He dragged the team along with him and didn’t let Liverpool have easy attacks.
Once again, Amorim made a decision based on tactics and what he was seeing on the pitch.
— Selecting Maguire brought question marks from people including me. But, that decision proved to be the right one as Maguire was the hero of the game.
— I think the overall preparation was brilliant and every player was switched on. De Ligt even talked about Liverpool’s fullback weakness and how we attacked them.
— I think subs also had a positive impact including Yoro.
Unlike most fans who are doing Amorim in or out, I try to focus on the process. If the process is right the results would follow. These are the kind of games and decisions that prove that Amorim isn’t as rigid as we had earlier thought of. This is a big positive sign for me.
