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The former manager's tenure at the Red Devils was widely regarded as a significant disappointment. By any measure, his performance stands out for all the negative factors. Throughout the modern top-flight period, no United manager has achieved a worse points return, or achieved a final position as low as 15th place. Delving further back, you have to go back to Frank O'Farrell in 1972 to find a United boss who lost a higher percentage of fixtures. Furthermore, he infamously carved a niche in club lore by experiencing a loss in a final to Tottenham Hotspur, namely the current side of Spurs.

Life, but, is not often so black and white. Regardless of the criticism of his 3-4-2-1 formation, he exits a squad in a significantly improved condition than the one he found. In a prior match this term, following a win against Brighton, the striker Welbeck reported that teammates were lauding United as the finest team they had played against in a long time. The performance in a thrilling four-all stalemate with Bournemouth was both promising and thrilling.

Although it is tough to argue against the dismissal—especially given it was allegedly caused by his comments about bosses with more miserable track records—Amorim's exit was in the end stymied by terrible luck. If the absence of vital personnel not occurred alongside the loss of other important figures, he could remain in the position—maybe even.

Fresh Start for United

As a result, Fletcher inherits a reasonably stable state of affairs. Key players like Mount, Fernandes, and Kobbie Mainoo are now fit, while Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo will in the near future be back from the Africa Cup of Nations. Just careful husbandry of this talented squad should be enough to ensure a fifth-place finish and, with it, continental competition for the coming campaign—most likely in the elite UEFA Champions League.

The Clarets' Daunting Challenge

The home side, but, will not roll over. Even with boasting only a dozen points and suffering defeats in 3 of their last five outings, their showings have at times been better than the scorelines indicate. Boss Parker will certainly have his squad pumped up to get after United who are likely to field an starting eleven that has lacked cohesion, set up in a setup they have not used for a year or more.

Start time: 8:15 in the evening GMT.