Amad Diallo development shows the power of Ruben Amorim’s coaching at Manchester United and why he deserves time
Published 17/01/2025 at 18:16 GMT
Manchester United fans were an extremely worried group on Thursday evening before a late hat-trick from Amad Diallo rescued a 3-1 win over Southampton in the Premier League, live on TNT Sports and discovery+. Pete Sharland argues that Diallo’s development shows the kind of thing that new manager Ruben Amorim shines at and why it’s imperative that he is given time despite an up and down start.
Highlights: Amad rescues Man Utd with dramatic late hat-trick over Saints
Video credit: TNT Sports
"Maybe one of the best weeks of my life but like I said, I’m very happy for this win because this team deserved to win this game so I’m very happy."
Those were the words of Ivorian forward Amad Diallo,, who scored a hat-trick to help Manchester United recover from 1-0 down to beat Southampton 3-1 on Thursday evening - live on TNT Sports and discovery+ - with all the goals coming after the 80th minute.
It was another late show from the youngster, who also scored in the 80th minute to rescue a dramatic draw against Liverpool a couple of weeks earlier.
And despite the initial results under Ruben Amorim being a bit of a case of two steps forwards, one step backwards, there can be no denying the work the new manager has done with Diallo.
Diallo has started the same number of games under Amorim and interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy as he did in the period since he joined United, all the way back in 2021. And he has rewarded that faith with some excellent performances.
Pre-Amorim, in all competitions, Diallo had three goals and two assists for a combined tally of five goal contributions. That was the fifth-best at United, as shown in the table below. He had a combined expected goals and assists of 3.12, the sixth-best at the club.
Pre-Ruben Amorim (PL only)
| Player | Goals | Assists | G+A | xG | xA | xG + xA |
| Bruno Fernandes | 4 | 7 | 11 | 5.56 | 4.3 | 9.86 |
| Alejandro Garnacho | 7 | 4 | 11 | 5.79 | 0.91 | 6.7 |
| Christian Eriksen | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0.92 | 2.17 | 3.09 |
| Marcus Rashford | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3.55 | 1.98 | 5.53 |
| Amad Diallo | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1.5 | 1.62 | 3.12 |
| Joshua Zirkzee | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3.34 | 0.53 | 3.87 |
| Casemiro | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2.23 | 2.16 | 4.39 |
| Diogo Dalot | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1.14 | 1.93 | 3.07 |
| Rasmus Hojlund | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.65 | 0.12 | 1.77 |
Since Amorim took over? It is a truly remarkable turnaround. He is now up to 11 combined goals and assists in that period (six goals and five assists) with a combined expected GA of 6.86. Both of those figures are the best at the club.
Post-Ruben Amorim (all comps)
| Player | Goals | Assists | G+A | xG | xA | xG + xA |
| Amad Diallo | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4.57 | 2.29 | 6.86 |
| Bruno Fernandes | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3.35 | 2.74 | 6.09 |
| Rasmus Hojlund | 5 | 1 | 6 | 3.37 | 0.72 | 4.09 |
| Marcus Rashford | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0.9 | 0.15 | 1.05 |
| Joshua Zirkzee | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1.19 | 0.48 | 1.67 |
| Lisandro Martinez | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.42 | 1.05 | 1.47 |
| Alejandro Garnacho | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2.79 | 1.08 | 3.87 |
| Manuel Ugarte | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.24 | 0.95 | 1.19 |
| Noussair Mazraoui | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.31 | 1.04 | 1.35 |
Amorim has consistently spoken about wanting more speed for his system, something he reiterated when talking to TNT Sports on Thursday after the game, so it is no surprise Diallo’s playing time has increased.
But why have the goals gone up? Aside from the 2022/23 season on-loan at Sunderland, we have never seen this kind of scoring output from Diallo. Of course, some of this is likely just age and natural development, but a lot does come from Amorim, and we have seen this before.
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Amorim took over Sporting towards the end of the 2019/20 season. In his first full season, the club signed Pedro Goncalves and Nuno Santos. Two solid young players, but as regular top flight players, they had never scored more than seven goals in all competitions. In their last seasons before working with Amorim they scored a combined 12 goals for Famalicao and Rio Ave respectively. In their first season with Amorim they scored a combined 31 goals across all competitions.
Santos had scored 10 goals as a professional before he worked with Amorim. He has since scored 33. Goncalves is even more striking. After failing to make the grade at Wolverhampton Wanderers, he scored seven for Famalicao in one season. He has since scored 81 goals for Sporting. Heck, even Pablo Sarabia, who spent one season with Amorim on loan, found his scoring touch. Sarabia scored 21 goals in his one year with Amorim, something he had only done once before in his career.
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Amad says first senior hat-trick caps ‘one of the best weeks of my life’
Video credit: TNT Sports
And, of course, there is Viktor Gyokeres. The Swede signed for Brighton in 2017 and from then until 2021 he scored one goal for the Seagulls and a total of 11 goals across three loans. The final team of those loans, Coventry City, signed him permanently, and he exploded, scoring 40 goals across two seasons. Then he signed for Amorim, and went to a completely different level. Gyokeres scored a mammoth 43 goals in his first season and is already on 32 in 30 games this season.
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Mbappe, Salah, Gyokeres and more star in the top 20 UEFA Champions League Goals of 2024
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Whatever magic Amorim works, it is clear that between his system and his individual methods, he has a way of bringing the best goal scoring form out of players. Diallo is that player at Manchester United and his performances in recent weeks are a great example of why fans should be encouraged by the steps being taken under Amorim, even if, by the manager’s own admission, they still "have so much to do".
As former United midfielder Paul Scholes pointed out on TNT Sports, Diallo was really the only bright spot for the team.
"Diallo was the one bright spark," the TNT Sports expert said. "Diallo’s come and produced the win for them, and that took him 12 minutes, and he’s the only one player, for me, who can take credit out of this game tonight."
When Amorim was hired, one of the key reasons that the club gave was his ability to work with and develop players. It was a clear admittance from United that they had a squad they knew needed work but would not be able to totally overhaul for another window or two at least. By hiring Amorim, they would be able to see immediate improvement before they went to work supporting him in the market, whilst being aware that the initial period would be a bumpy one.
Fans need to be patient with Yoro
Speaking of being patient and letting players develop under Amorim, one player who did come under fire during the game against Southampton was teenage defender Leny Yoro, who had a tough time against Kamaldeen Sulemana. Many fans were critical of Yoro’s performance whilst some felt that Amorim perhaps should have shifted the young Frenchman's position within the back three.
We spoke to Cyril Morin from Eurosport France, who watched Yoro as he broke through and established himself at Lille, to see what he made of the 19-year-old's struggles.
Asked if he was surprised to see Yoro having a tough time, Morin said: "Yes and no to be honest. He’s still so young and is very fresh in this business.
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‘Big save’ - Onana denies Southampton after Sulemana breezes past Yoro
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"Eduardo Camavinga or Aurelien Tchouameni for example had several pro seasons before going to Madrid. Here, with Yoro, we are talking about someone with only two full seasons as a pro at Lille.
"So, of course, it’s difficult to adapt. And you have also to understand that he’s coming in to a team with many problems, many long-terms troubles that he’s incapable of addressing alone. Even Raphael Varane and Casemiro, with all their experience at the top level, were unable to do so. So it won’t be Yoro, at 19, who will solve everything."
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