BBC Radio Manchester’s Gaz Drinkwater says United finishing in the Premier League’s top six should be the “minimum requirement” for Ruben Amorim this season.
The Red Devils’ impressive win atย Liverpoolย on Sunday moved them to ninth in the table but just three points behindย Manchester Cityย in second.
“With the squad and with performances like that, we could be up there in the top six,” Drinkwater told the Devils’ Advocate podcast.
“Our squad is good enough to finish top six. It is. That should be the minimum requirement for this season.
“And if we’re in the top six and we’re looking comfortable and showing that we’re capable of never mind back-to-back wins in a row but three or four wins in a row, then who knows where we can finish.
“But, we’ve not yet proven that we’re capable of consistent winning form. Two wins in a row is a great start, particularly when one comes at Anfield which is a ridiculously hard place to win at, but now we’ve gotย Brightonย next. They are a difficult team.
“You want to play them at Old Trafford and you want to play well and get a result. In the Premier League I don’t think United have played too badly.
“Suddenly if you play well and draw that game it isn’t a disaster. If they win suddenly you’re looking up the table.
“They’ve had two stinkers against Manchester City andย Brentfordย and deserved to get beat.
“For the rest of the time I don’t think they’ve played horrifically.”
Is that the noise of turning tides I hear? It is easy to believe so after watching Manchester United defeatย Liverpoolย at Anfield for the first time since 2016.
How about a first Premier League away win since March? Or back-to-back Premier League wins that have not been since before Ruben Amorim took charge?
So the possibility of turning tides is a fair topic to discuss this week.
United rode their luck at Anfield, as every team must to win on the red side of Stanley Park. However, the Red Devils displayed an attacking quality that was non-existent last season, and a defensive resilience that has been just as scarce.
For a second successive win, Amorim proved he could tweak his tactics to undo the opposition. Benjamin Sesko’s exclusion in a game where United were certain to go long was a surprise. Some were acceptant of another miserable Sunday on Merseyside.
Yet it was a genius ploy to ensure that Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate won Senne Lammens’ impressively long kicks so that the energetic Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Bruno Fernandes could sweep up second balls.
It created the second-minute opener and left Arne Slot scrambling – moments after he moaned about the fact Sesko was not starting before kick-off, as if that is what he had been preparing his champions for all week.
This is a good look for Amorim. He was a coach who lit up European football at Sporting and this was the type of team performance many expected him to orchestrate instantly.
But I must emphasise the use of ‘possibility’ in paragraph three. United hostย Brightonย at Old Trafford on Saturday, a fixture they have lost in the past three seasons.
Perhaps that is the true test of whether this is, indeed, the noise of turning tides – or merely crashing waves in a familiar sea of misery.
