Nearly a year ago, Manchester United fans were filled with excitement about a new era, when the team traveled to Portman Road to face Ipswich Town.
After a poor start to the 2024-2025 season, Erik ten Hag was sacked at the end of October, and Ruben Amorim was chosen to replace him. Young, highly regarded, captivating and skillful in communication, Amorim represented a clear turning point in the club's thinking - not to mention he brought a full- trio centre-back formation.
He is the first coach appointed under the new leadership team with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The resounding success at Sporting CP - where Amorim won two Portuguese championships, including his first title in 19 years - has made fans even more optimistic.
In all aspects, Amorim is a promising choice. However, his first year at Old Trafford was not flat, making it difficult to make clear conclusions for recent positive signals.
Despite memorable moments and results, Amorim's first year at Man United was overwhelmed by a series of events and records that fans wanted to forget. That was a defeat to Tottenham in the Europa League final, the club's worst record in Premier League history, and being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by a fourth-tier team this season.
It is no surprise that since Amorim arrived at Old Trafford, most of the attention has been on his system. In particular, the decision to move the "Red Devils" to a 3-defender formation is almost unprecedented in the club's history.
As Man United have not shown any significant improvement compared to Ten Hag's time, that system and its suitability are increasingly being dismantled. But instead of waver, Amorim has become even toder. He affirmed that the problem was not in the diagram and always adhered to his principles.
However, as Man United's points have continued to fall and their ratings have plummeted, the outside scepticism has become greater.
There were two alarming periods last season. After 12 Premier League games, Man United's per game average has dropped to 0.83 - their lowest since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
The situation got even worse when Man United started the 2025-26 season sluggishly. At one point, in a 12-game streak from the end of last season to the beginning of this season, their average score per game was just 0.75. Notably, when Ten Hag was sacked, that number was still 1.42.
Although there are still many problems that have caused Man United to show instability, they are showing recent positives.
The "Red Devils" still missed many good opportunities, but the trend of late goalscoring is proof of the return of the curse. It is worth not only scoring constantly, but also the way those goals come out. At the end of last season, 5 of their 8 goals came from the 80th minute onwards. This season, that trend is not only continuing but also more decisive.
In the last 4 Premier League matches, Man United changed the result with the final moments of the match: from loss to draw, or from draw to win. They have scored the decisive goals in the 80th minute and above with the same total in the previous 24 matches. And this is only the third time in Premier League history that they have created this type of streak.
Finally, the positive signals this season show that Amorim's first year at Old Trafford was not a failed experiment. However, that is still not enough to completely dispel the doubts that have surrounded the past 12 months.
Man United look fitter, more cohesive and more fighting spirit, but the problems that overwhelmed Amorim's early tenure have not gone away.
The upcoming period with a more favorable competition schedule will be the clearest test of the true ability of this team. But one thing has become clear at Old Trafford: the time of uncertainty is gradually coming to an end.
After a turbulent year but also showing signs of recovery, Amorim - who has just over 18 months left on his contract - is getting closer to the time when promises must be transformed into concrete results.
