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There’s a pulse to Manchester United again. Not the thundering kind from the glory years, but a steady, insistent beat that’s been missing for too long. Old Trafford feels a little different these days. Less groans, more murmurs of belief. Three league wins in a row, the latest a chaotic 4–2 over Brighton on Saturday evening and suddenly the team moves with something that almost looks like certainty. It’s not perfect, but it’s been a while since United looked this alive.
For the first time in what feels like years, Manchester United looked like a team that actually knew what it wanted to do. Amorim’s back three pressed high, not wildly but with purpose. The wing-backs ran hard into the spaces they were meant to, not the ones they stumbled upon. Up front, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko, and Matheus Cunha moved like players who’d been over this a hundred times on the training pitch. They were in total control against Brighton.
And the stats tell their own quiet story. Saturday’s win gave United their longest league winning streak since February 2024. The names of former managers flicker beside that number, Moyes, van Gaal, Mourinho, Solskjær, Ten Hag. Each once briefly hailed as the man who would bring them “back”. Amorim now has his own run, his own streak, and maybe, his own chance to be something different.
“I think the players are more confident,” Amorim said after the match against Brighton “When you have a different spirit, sometimes you have a little bit of luck in certain moments of the game that help you to win games.”
Confidence. Spirit. Luck. They sound simple, but for United, these have often been the hardest things to find. Right now, those words don’t sound like cliches anymore.
It’s the tactical clarity that’s made the biggest difference. Amorim has managed to simplify a team that was drowning in its own confusion. Out of possession, they drop into a compact 5-4-1, shielding Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes from exposure. In attack, they stretch the field with long, direct passes, letting their front three express themselves. It’s functional football, but it breathes.
Mbeumo, in particular, looks reborn. Every time he receives the ball, the move keeps its heartbeat. Beside him, Šeško provides the height and hunger, and Cunha’s blend of grit and flair makes him the perfect hinge between chaos and creation.
Even the quieter figures matter. Senne Lammens has brought calm to a goalkeeping position that’s long been a revolving door of uncertainty. INEOS’ summer spending, bold and targeted, finally feels coherent. “Much more individual quality. The money was well invested,” Brighton’s coach Fabian Hürzeler said afterwards, and for once, few could argue.
Gary Neville called it Amorim’s “best week on the job”. It’s hard to disagree. The 4-2 win over Brighton followed a defiant showing at Anfield.
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And yet, the question lingers: are Manchester United truly back? Or are they simply better at pretending to be?
Trips to Nottingham Forest and Tottenham lie ahead, and both will test the edges of this momentum. But there’s belief again. Amorim’s United are starting to look like a team that knows what it’s doing.
Cunha and Mbeumo will be crucial if this version of United is to last. They bring maturity where chaos once reigned, patience where panic used to live. And around them, Amorim is slowly building something that feels sustainable, if not yet spectacular.
So, are Manchester United back? Probably not, not yet. But for the first time in a long while, they look like they might be heading there with purpose rather than luck.
Because sometimes, what matters most isn’t whether you’ve arrived. It’s that you’re moving forward again, that the wins are hard-fought, that the ideas are clear, and that the fans can dare to believe again.
For now, that’s enough. They’re not back. But they’re winning again, and this time, they’re winning the difficult ones.
Let’s see how long they can ride this wave.
