Sports
Man United need to face reality: Amorim is not the club’s biggest issue
It will be little comfort for Ruben Amorim after taking 34 points from his first 33 Premier League games as Manchester United boss, but at least he can say he saw it coming.
The Portuguese coach has made it no secret that his preference was to take the United job in the summer after being identified as Erik ten Hag’s replacement. He didn’t want to be parachuted in mid-season, believing that his appointment in November would create more problems than it would solve. Yet co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the board had other ideas and told Amorim it was now or never.
It was a move badged as an attempt to get a head-start on United’s route back to the top. Nearly a year on, it’s beginning to look like cutting corners, and it will be the manager — as it always is in these situations — who will eventually pay the price.
– Ogden: The numbers don’t lie when it comes to Amorim
– Every time Amorim has talked about his job
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The pressure ahead of Sunderland‘s visit to Old Trafford on Saturday — Amorim’s 50th game in all competitions — is now off the scale. Many United fans have already decided that even a positive result will only delay the inevitable and in many ways, it’s a lose-lose situation for Amorim.
Win, and he’s unlikely to get much credit because United should be winning at home to promoted teams like Sunderland — who are fifth on their return to the top flight, with three wins and two draws in their first six games. Lose or draw, and it will be more fuel for the supporters who have already decided he needs to go.
Amorim was surprisingly calm and collected in his news conference after last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Brentford, but he’s smart enough to understand that the opportunity to add context to what’s happening under his watch has been and gone.
He could have pointed out that three missed penalties — two from Bruno Fernandes against Fulham and Brentford respectively, and one from Bryan Mbeumo in the Carabao Cup shootout defeat at Grimsby Town — have put a different slant on the start to the season. Or that individual mistakes — whether Luke Shaw against Manchester City, or Harry Maguire against Brentford — are consistently pulling the rug from under his game plan.
Only Amorim didn’t, largely because he’s realised the only debate that matters now is the referendum on his future. Stay or Go? Amorim in, or Amorim out? Nothing else seems to matter. It was noteworthy that as he spoke in the media theatre at the Gtech Community Stadium, he suggested he was not in a position to “protect himself” in interviews.
Jose Mourinho, one of Amorim’s mentors, had a habit of going down fighting in these situations, taking aim at anyone unlucky enough to drift through his crosshairs. Amorim has chosen a different approach. If anything, he’s dragged the focus back onto himself instead of pointing fingers, and that’s good news for Ratcliffe, who has been at Old Trafford longer and made far more mistakes than his manager.
Amorim would be well within his rights to highlight that last season, after being dropped into the job at an inopportune time, he was forced to throw away Premier League games in an attempt to win the Europa League and get back into the Champions League. Why else would he have started Tyler Fredricson, Harry Amass and Chido Obi in the 4-3 defeat at Brentford on May 4?
Amass made seven first-team appearances last season and is now on loan at Sheffield Wednesday. Chido Obi played eight times, but he’s now back with the academy rather than being part of Amorim’s squad. The game at Brentford in May came days before the 4-1 win over Athletic Club in the Europa League semifinal, second leg. At that point, the only thing worth chasing was the Europa League title.
It’s context that’s missing when Amorim’s league record of 17 Premier League defeats and a win rate of 27.3% is thrown back at him. It’s poor, no doubt, but there are reasons behind it.
1:17
Amorim: Man United played like Brentford wanted us to
Ruben Amorim says Manchester United got sucked into Brentford’s game as they fell to a 3-1 defeat.
Privately, Amorim may well have other gripes. His squad is one that’s still under maintenance after mistakes made when Ten Hag was in charge. United have been clear that they cannot fix every position in one summer, but it’s left Amorim without the energetic midfielder he needs for his 3-4-3 system. Nor does he have a first-choice goalkeeper, with Altay Bayindir, Senne Lammens and Tom Heaton all understudies.
United should be doing better than they are — even Amorim would accept that — but there are limitations within this group of players whoever is in charge.
Not that it matters. Regardless of who the players are or who the manager is, United have to win every week, whoever they play. And there lies the biggest problem Amorim is having to deal with.
The disconnect between the history of the club, the expectation that comes with it and the reality of the situation they find themselves in is huge. United are driven by the idea of where they think they ought to be — not where they should be.
For more than a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, this disconnect has created additional pressure to be successful. The desperation to win, to catch Manchester City and Liverpool, has forced mistakes on and off the pitch, with bad decisions made and money spent poorly. There’s no time for projects and patience. Only chop, change, try again and hope for the best.
Front and centre for it all have been the managers. From David Moyes, to Louis van Gaal, to Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag, Amorim is the latest to be chewed up in the race to get United back to the top. Don’t beat Sunderland on Saturday and he risks being spat out just like the others.
Sports
Netflix documentary director on Hulk Hogan’s Trump support and the backlash that followed him to the end
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In his final appearance for WWE, Hulk Hogan, undoubtedly the greatest wrestler in the history of the company, was booed.
By the time Jan. 6, 2025, his last appearance, had rolled around, Hogan became outwardly supportive of President Donald Trump, which turned off some of his followers.
“But he never expressed regret. He stood by who he was,” Brian Storkel, the director of Netflix’s upcoming documentary on the late wrestler, said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
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Businessman Donald Trump and World Champion Wrestler Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania Vl Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey March 29 1987. (Jeffrey Asher/Getty Images)
Hogan had done five days of interviews with Netflix, totaling 25 hours. However, he will not get to see the final product, as he died in July at the age of 71.
Long before becoming an outward Trump supporter, Hogan had been involved in some controversies in the past. But from the jump, Storkel wanted to “humanize him and really get to know Terry Bollea, the person.”
“With all the subjects in my documentaries, I don’t like viewing people in black-and-white terms. Even if someone has done wrong, I don’t see them as purely good or evil. People are more complex than that, and that nuance is where the story becomes interesting,” Storkel said. “You need a subject willing to go there, reflect, and be open — and Terry was.”
Hogan began to be more public with his support for Trump after an assassination attempt in July 2024.
“He said he’d supported him quietly for a long time but felt embarrassed to wear the hat. He mentioned that the assassination attempt was what pushed him to speak out. Soon after, he was speaking publicly and took some backlash for it,” Storkel said.
Hulk Hogan, professional entertainer and wrestler, speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum. The final day of the RNC featured a keynote address by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. (IMAGN Syndication: USA TODAY)
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Ironically, the last time Storkel chatted with Hogan was right after an interview with Trump for the documentary.
“I was at the White House, just outside the West Wing, on a call with Hulk Hogan, which was the weirdest thing. It felt like one of those surreal moments you’d imagine as a kid — a made-up story you’d tell people. I had just spent time with Donald Trump, something Hulk Hogan had set up so I could interview him, and then I’m standing there talking to Hogan about it. He was so excited it had happened,” Storkel recalled.
“At that point, he was already in and out of the hospital after surgery, so that ended up being the last call I had with him.”
Storkel admitted that not much was different about the documentary following Hogan’s death from his original plans, outside of some late tributes and more time with his son, Nick. Storkel was doing interviews for the documentary at WWE headquarters in Connecticut the day Hogan died.
“There’s also a moment in the film where I say we’ll come back in a couple of months for another interview. He agrees and walks out of frame—and that ends up being the last time. It becomes a powerful moment because you realize that follow-up never happens,” Storkel said.
But no matter the case, Storkel felt a responsibility to tell the story of the greatest.
Nick Hogan and Hulk Hogan during VH1 Big in ’05 – Backstage and Audience at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, California. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
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“With every project, I want to be fair and accurate. Of course I want the people involved to feel good about it, but I won’t change the truth to make that happen,” Storkel said. “With Hulk, getting to know him personally made it more important to honor him properly. Yes, he was flawed and polarizing, but he was also a caring person with a big personality.
“I didn’t want his legacy reduced to a single label or judged solely on politics or past mistakes. My goal was to show the full human being. Regardless of how people feel going in, I think they’ll come away with a deeper understanding of who he was. I really valued getting to know him, and I hope the audience gets that same experience through the documentary.”
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Quetta Gladiators won the toss and elected to field first against Peshawar Zalmi in the 29th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 at Karachi’s National Bank Stadium on Sunday.
Playing XIs
Peshawar Zalmi: Mohammad Haris (wk), Babar Azam (c), Kusal Mendis, Aaron Hardie, Farhan Yousaf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Michael Bracewell, Abdul Samad, Sufiyan Muqeem, Mohammad Basit and Ali Raza.
Quetta Gladiators: Shamyl Hussain, Saud Shakeel (c), Rilee Rossouw, Hasan Nawaz, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Jahandad Khan, Saqib Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq.
Head-to-head
Historically, both sides have faced each other 27 times, with Zalmi leading with 14 wins, followed by the Gladiators with 12, while one match has ended in a no result.
Their last meeting came at the same venue in the ongoing edition earlier this week, which saw the leaders prevailing comfortably by eight wickets.
- Matches: 27
- Peshawar Zalmi: 14
- Quetta Gladiators: 12
- No Result: 1
Form Guide
Zalmi and Gladiators enter the fixture with contrasting momentum as the 2017 champions are on a five-match winning streak, besides holding the distinction of being the only unbeaten side in the ongoing PSL 11 standings.
The Zalmi, as a result, have already booked their spot in the playoffs as they sit at the summit of the standings with 13 points in seven matches.
Gladiators, on the other hand, have just two victories in their last five matches, but are fresh from a resounding six-wicket triumph over holders Lahore Qalandars.
Peshawar Zalmi: W, W, W, W, W (most recent first)
Quetta Gladiators: W, L, W, L, L
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LAS VEGAS – One of the best WrestleMania 42 moments on Saturday night occurred outside of the ring.
NFL star George Kittle and NBA star Tyrese Haliburton were among the professional athletes in attendance for Night 1 of the event, which later featured Cody Rhodes retaining his Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton in the main event.
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George Kittle and Tyrese Haliburton attend WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Rich Freeda/WWE/Getty Images)
Kittle and Haliburton were showcased as two stars who were at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the event. Haliburton was about to drink his beer when Kittle intercepted it away and chugged it for him. The WWE crowd was frenzied after Kittle’s steal.
https://x.com/netflixsports/status/2045632212922728821
Both Kittle and Haliburton are major WWE fans and have been at multiple events, including getting involved in matches.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
George Kittle attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Rich Freeda/WWE)
Kittle clotheslined The Miz at WrestleMania 39. He previously revealed he’s a big fan of Penta, who is defending his Intercontinental Championship in a six-man ladder match on Sunday.
Haliburton previously went face-to-face with New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson on an episode of “Friday Night SmackDown.”
For now, it doesn’t appear as though either will enter a WWE ring anytime soon.
Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in January, ending his 2026 season with the San Francisco 49ers on a sour note.
George Kittle and Chuck Zito attend WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Rich Freeda/WWE/Getty Images)
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Haliburton is also recovering from a torn Achilies he suffered in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last year. He also opened up about battling shingles as he tries to return to the floor for the Indiana Pacers.
Netflix documentary director on Hulk Hogan’s Trump support and the backlash that followed him to the end
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