Ruben Amorim, like almost every young Portuguese coach who emerges onto the scene, has had to face up to those inevitable comparisons with one Jose Mourinho. But their shared Iberian background is where the similarities between Amorim and Mourinho come to an end.
Mourinho’s teams tend to sit back and soak up pressure. Amorim’s press from the front. Mourinho is cautious; defence-first.
Amorim, in contrast, has faced criticism at times for an overly-attacking, almost reckless approach on the biggest of stages; Champions League hammerings against Ajax and Manchester City balanced out by impressive victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund.
“I think Amorim is something special,” Portuguese reporter Filipe Dias told The Sun recently.
Amorim guided Sporting, a team including former Wolves youngster Pedro ‘Pote’ Goncalves, to their first Primeira Liga title in two decades last year.
“Amorim is on a whole other level. He is always calm, always positive, he doesn’t feel the need to say something bad to spite an opponent. Sporting is a madhouse but he changed it overnight.”
Ruben Amorim or Julen Lopetegui for the Wolves job?
In fact, it’s another Molineux-linked tactician who can more accurately be compared to Jose Mourinho. And we don’t mean in a positive sense, either. We mean a dull, stupifying style of football that fails to get the best out of the talent at his disposal; putting fans to sleep along the way.
Julen Lopetegui appears to be on the verge of the sack at Sevilla. That is despite three successive top-four La Liga finishes and a Europa League triumph.
But that only tells you half the story. Ask any Sevilla supporter why they want Lopetegui to go – and the vast majority do – and they’ll tell you a story that will chime familiar with Wolves fans. That of a talented yet underperforming squad; one that should be achieving far more but appears to be held back by a manager unable to harness the attacking potential at his disposal.
A team containing Diego Carlos, Jules Kounde, Marcos Acuna Ivan Rakitic, Papu Gomez, Lucas Ocampos, Susa, Jesus ‘Tecatito’ Corona, Youssef En-Nesyri, Anthony Martial and more should have challenged for the La Liga title last term. Especially with Barcelona and Atletico out of sorts. The blame then, for an eventual fourth placed finish, fell at the door of Lopetegui and his overly-cautious, possession-for-possession’s sake tactics. The feeling is that he is holding Sevilla back.
A tally of 53 league goals in 2021/22 is almost criminal too. Especially for a side with so many top-level forwards at their disposal. Players like Ocampos and Gomes who plateaued and arguably even declined under Lopetegui’s management. This Sevilla side should be thrilling. Instead, they’ve hardly been any more than functional at best.
Did we mention they’re in the midst of a worst league start in 41 years?
Who will replace Bruno Lage at Molineux?
“I just don’t see the plan from Lopetegui. I don’t see any continuity,” sighs Terry Gibson, speaking on the El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast. “You never know what their XI is going to be.
“Scoring goals was a problem last year. Scoring goals is a problem again this year.”
According to Marca, Lopetegui, who nearly took over back in 2016 before Nuno Espirito Santo’s transformative arrival is one of the leading candidates to take Bruno Lage’s place on the Molineux bench. But the fact remains that the problems inhibiting Lopetegui’s Sevilla are far too similar to the ones facing Wolves right now to suggest that he is the right man to spark a change.
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