I just don’t really buy that Amorim ‘deserves’ to be backed any more than Ange does just because he came mid season. To go along with your original line, either it’s tactically suspect or it isn’t. If Amorim gets a pass for coming mid season, I could argue Ange deserves a pass for winning a trophy and never losing the dressing room, because he was making decisions and holding together a culture that would have seen us into his third season.
At the end of the day it just comes down to faith, Ange has always asked for ‘true believers’ because to play his way, to believe in the benefits it ultimately gives you, requires real bravery and a confidence to do things differently. I really liked his fit with Spurs because if he have any intention of actually challenging for titles we need to do things differently under ENIC. But his risk taking threatens their security of predictable revenue.
As for which players or which tactics…honestly yes under Ange, I felt we would have gotten back to top 6 minimum under him, as we would any other manager. But I wanted to see Ange with a full season with a normal amount of injuries, a more experienced squad with more depth and a culture strengthened through winning. If we could play our preferred centre backs more than ten times in the league. If we didn’t go basically three months 11 players out and a game every 3 days.
I ultimately just believe and have faith that having got through this tough period, we would have reached the point that usually happens with his clubs. The players get used to the physical demands. They are comfortable taking extreme risks. The momentum builds. We probably needed a better VDV back up, and a few other signings here and there. But I think we had a great first 11 and a squad that was getting close. We just literally never saw a consistent few months where he could actually be said to be implementing it.
I said in the previous pages that I don’t believe there is some magic combination of idealism vs pragmatism that is a cheat code. It’s all just choices with trade offs. I think it’s about allowing a vision to take shape and get implemented so we can see it in its full form. We never really saw it with Ange.