The Portuguese wanted to begin work in the summer, and the Red Devils missed an open goal by not keeping the legendary striker in charge until then

Back in November, Ruben Amorim had the opportunity to work alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy at Manchester United, but instead chose to stick with his trusted backroom staff and parted with the legendary striker, who had done a fine job holding the fort as interim manager between Erik ten Hag being fired and Amorim starting work.

Fast-forward two-and-a-half months, and the two coaches will meet for the first time as opponents as United host Leicester City in Friday's FA Cup fourth-round tie, which has turned out to be a meeting of two of the worst teams in the top flight – and thus two of its most embattled managers.

Van Nistelrooy has lost eight of his 11 league games in charge of the Foxes while winning just twice, meaning they occupy the final relegation spot, sat two points from safety. United, meanwhile, are only doing marginally better, losing seven of their 11 games in the same period under Amorim and sitting in 13th.

Neither coach seems suited at all to the circumstances of their current clubs, and given what has happened at United in the last two months, it is difficult to not venture that the Red Devils made a big mistake by not keeping Van Nistelrooy in charge until the end of season before getting Amorim on board in the summer.

Getty Images SportHappy interim spell

Van Nistelrooy only spent four games in charge of United, but it was an exciting and happy period. The team won three out of four games, as they easily beat Leicester in both the Carabao Cup and league, overcame PAOK in the Europa League and drew with Chelsea.

The former striker did have the advantage of playing all his games at Old Trafford and facing a relatively comfortable fixture list, with the exception of Chelsea. However, what has happened since has put his tenure in an even more favourable light; Amorim has lost five of his nine home games in all competitions, with the 'Theatre of Dreams' having been deathly silent and downbeat for most of his tenure. By contrast, the stadium was extremely fired up while Van Nistelrooy was in charge.

The Dutchman opted for a simple tactical approach, going with the same 4-2-3-1 formation Ten Hag had used, but made his midfield more robust by deploying Casemiro next to Manuel Ugarte. It might not have been innovative, but the two South American bruisers gave United a solid platform and a level of consistency.

Van Nistelrooy's United played a similar style to Ten Hag, geared towards counter-attacking and with heavy reliance on their wingers, but there was a renewed energy among the players, who seemed to respond better to a club icon than they had his predecessor.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesMid-season fears realised

Amorim started work at United the day after the thumping 3-0 Premier League win over Leicester, and there was a sense that Van Nistelrooy was leaving United in much better hands for the new coach than if he'd immediately stepped into Ten Hag's shoes. But rather than taking advantage of that upswing in form, United have gone backwards under the Portuguese.

Gary Neville said on his podcast: "I thought it would get better when Ruben Amorim came in, the enthusiasm of him and the new system, the players would buy into and we'd see a bounce. But we've seen the absolute opposite and it's got a lot worse – and that's surprising."

There was always a danger that this would happen given the radical style the coach was going to impose on the team, and Amorim was painfully aware of that. Indeed, just after accepting the job in early November, he admitted: "The only request I made was that it (his arrival) was at the end of the season. I spent three days asking for it. They told me it wasn't possible, that it was now or never, or Manchester United would go for another option. So, I had three days to make my mind up, to make a decision that radically changes my life."

Amorim was not wrong about that, and for now the move has radically changed his life for the worse. He went from a Sporting CP team that had won every single league game to a United side that has forgotten how to win, especially at Old Trafford.

Getty Images SportNo fun at all

Amorim's attempts to impose his style on United have been made harder by the relentless schedule, and he was also aware that he would have very few opportunities to get his ideas across. He said in his first press conference: "It's so much harder to come to the team in the middle of the season because you have to get to know the players during the games, you are talking about no national-team periods to work with the players, it's just games. It depends: if you are winning it's a lot of fun, having a lot of games, trying to make changes tactically and winning games. But if you are losing, you don't have time in training to work out everything you want to work on."

United are definitely not having a lot of fun. There have been some big highs, such as beating Manchester City, knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup and holding Premier League leaders Liverpool to a draw at Anfield. When Van Nistelrooy left, United were in 13th, but the gap between them and the top four was just four points. Now while in the same league position, that gap is 14 points, with only 14 games remaining.

The team's goal difference has also fallen even further, from zero at the start of Amorim's reign to minus six; only five teams have a worse goal difference than the Red Devils. United also keep on breaking new unwanted records, as they have already lost as many home games as in their worst-ever Premier League campaign of 2013-14, and have their worst home record at this stage of a season since 1893-94.

Amorim has been painfully honest about how bad his team are, calling them "maybe the worst in the history of Manchester United" and admitting that there is an atmosphere of anxiety around the stadium. The Portuguese had a wonderful rapport with his players at Sporting, but there has been little sign of a bond with his squad at United. The fact he has insulted the players' ability both directly – with his public comments – and indirectly, such as by starting Kobbie Mainoo up front against Crystal Palace ahead of Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, is not helping.

Getty Images SportPaying a heavy price

United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and CEO Omar Berrada were both enamoured with Amorim's work at Sporting and dismissed then-sporting director Dan Ashworth's opinions in their search for a new boss, leading to Ashworth ultimately being fired. It is easy to see why they were attracted to the charismatic and young coach who had awakened a sleeping giant in Sporting, but they knew they were taking a huge risk by hiring him in the middle of the season, and they are now paying a heavy price for it as they endure one of the club’s worst campaigns in modern times.

Of course, there were potential downsides to keeping Van Nistelrooy on for the rest of the campaign. United saw the negatives of an interim boss when they appointed Ralf Rangnick three years ago after sacking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer while they waited for Ten Hag to become available. The players knew Rangnick would be off in the summer and there was little long-term motivation to work hard under him. But there was another factor underlying that pitiful campaign – the fact that players did not respect the German.

Indeed, as Cristiano Ronaldo articulated in his infamous interview with Piers Morgan, many of them did not know who Rangnick was. That would not be the case with Van Nistelrooy, one of the finest strikers of his generation who many of the current squad would have watched growing up. Van Nistelrooy would have also been able to rally the Old Trafford crowd in a similar fashion to how Solskjaer did in his sensational first few months in charge.

That does, however, lead into another potential pitfall that might have come with keeping Van Nistelrooy in charge. Had he had great success, United may have been tempted to give him the job permanently, like they did with Solskjaer in a move they quickly came to regret. Yet there was an easy way around that: tie up a deal with Amorim so that the Dutchman's time had an expiry date.