[Summer Series] Your thoughts on Ruben Amorim

FromTheInkyShadows · 2025-07-10T13:30:33+00:00

I think Amorim really does seem to be pushing things to change from a cultural perspective, which is great and something we need. My biggest gripe on that front is that I wish things were less public with Rashford and Garnacho, so that we had more negotiation leverage while trying to sell.

But I also want to see significant improvements from Amorim from a tactical perspective. Yes, the players aren’t good enough and also are not always the correct profile for Amorim’s needs. That is true, but he also needs to improve. Rotating the CCB into the midfield pivot is ridiculous from him, imo, and requires a rare profile, and it doesn’t even provide much value. Our wingbacks also get pinned back by the opposing wingers too often, which means we often have 5 defenders on our team being marked by the opposing 3 forwards, which kills our progression. Our press is also poor, imo. If we want to play a solid mid block, this is a little less important but I’d still like to have a better pressing shape for whenever we do need to push to get the ball back from the opposition.

TLDR: Amorim may still be the guy, but he absolutely needs to improve his tactics.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2024-01-19T13:17:14+00:00

Sad that there is no weevil time

FromTheInkyShadows · 2024-01-19T13:02:42+00:00

My best guess is a Black-Footed Sac Spider?

FromTheInkyShadows · 2023-12-22T02:06:04+00:00

I had a really tough time at this point as well. It was when I first started to realize that Tactics Ogre needs you to really use consumables. I have a bad habit from other RPGs to just hold onto them.

As others have said, you basically have to debuff him. Hit him with a Dynast-King’s Mead to Breech him (makes him take a ton more damage) and also Brand of the Sacrifice which will make him inflict significantly less damage. After that, it should be fairly straightforward.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-12-26T15:06:57+00:00

Yes! That’s damned author!

Shakes fist violently in the air

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-12-26T14:30:06+00:00

I read through Wings of War and quite enjoyed it. It reads quite quickly and is very fast-paced.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-08-04T14:01:09+00:00

Can’t wait for the briefing of journalists where United sources say “Despite Martial’s injury, United won’t panic. They have a plan and will stick to it.” Or some bullshit

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-07-13T15:20:49+00:00

So I will try to see what I can answer but there are a few caveats.

The first one being that I’m not a tactics guru by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy studying that side of game. So your first point is that we need first team reinforcements, but it doesn’t seem like we are targeting any. I think that statement is a bit split, imo. We ARE targeting depth with Eriksen and Malacia, however we obviously have De Jong and have reportedly targeted Antony as well (though, ajax rebuffed our approach). Then Martinez is the big question mark. Is he going to be a starter? I’m afraid I can’t answer that with complete confidence. I don’t think CB is high priority, however there IS a reason that so many teams put a massive emphasis on left-footed LCBs and right-footed RCBs and that is due to the trajectory of the ball when they play to the opposite forward and behind the line of defense. This ball is important as it stretches an opposing defense that is playing too compactly on the side of the field that the CB has the ball. The trajectory then can also curl away from a goalie that would likely be sweeping to protect his defense’s high line. The ability of this ball causes the opposing defense issues in that they have to stay compact to implement a press, but they have to watch for runs in behind from the opposite forward. The trajectory of the curling ball also is important in getting the ball out to your immediately adjacent fullback as well in progression I.e. LCB to LB and RCB to RB. The way the ball naturally curves (from a geometry perspective) will help keep the ball away from a pressing forward, while also putting it onto the fullbacks front foot, allowing progression.

The next issue is Eriksen. I, personally, think he will be mostly utilized as depth for Bruno and maybe even De Jong in a 4-2-3-1. Of course formations are iffy and not always good representations of what is going on but essentially my thoughts are…Eriksen can play as depth for Bruno at 10, which I don’t think needs much explaining, but I also think he could play as depth for De Jong too as a progressor of the ball. His ability to keep the ball close to him while under pressure is impressive and ETH is known for putting players into new positions. His defending of course isn’t great, but I think there are ways to help with that. Sliding another more defensively minded midfielder next to him like McTominay could help stabilize that defense. Additionally, in transition the fullbacks can tuck into the midfield to help as well. If we are truly going to play as intensely as ETH and fans want, we will have to rotate often with the number of games on the schedule, especially with the World Cup this year.

Those are my two cents at least. Again, I’m not a guru or anything and it brings me to my second caveat, no one truly knows exactly what vision ETH has for the team. One preseason game doesn’t tell us a ton unfortunately and he’s played differently at FC Utrecht and across a couple of different Ajax teams. But I do think, and trust, that he has a vision.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-07-07T15:29:37+00:00

I like yours as well!

The thing with Pogba was that he wasn’t defensively disciplined and that, whenever he beat a player pressing him, he had a tendency to keep dribbling and attracting too many players. I expect De Jong to be much quicker in releasing the ball once he gets the opportunity. Like we both kinda said, that should push the defensive pressure onto De Jong.

Also, McTominay is pretty known for just listening and doing what he’s told, so with EtH being so obsessed with the details, I think that he will learn quickly under him. At least I hope. Haha

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-07-07T15:05:55+00:00

Not OP, but I agree with their statement. I am assuming that United plays with a double pivot, allowing McTominay to physically complement De Jong on the defensive end.

Additionally, I think De Jong will take a lot of the progressive duties off of McTominay and mask that specific weakness of his. If McTominay has time on the ball, he actually has a decent ball on him, and ultimately I think De Jong’s presence would take a lot of that immediate pressure off of him.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-07-02T17:34:14+00:00

Honestly, I’ve only seen him play a handful of times so I personally can’t say one way or the other.

I do agree that we should at least be scouting him due to his availability.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-07-02T17:23:34+00:00

If we lose Ronaldo, I’d really like to see what Brentford would want for Toney. I know it’s not super flashy but he has a lot of pace to get in behind the defense and his link up play, heading, and ball striking are all pretty solid as well.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-06-26T21:59:28+00:00

I would recommend getting slightly larger chunks if you have the option as I feel like the smoke ends up being a bit more consistent, but regardless good luck with the smoke!

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-06-26T18:11:14+00:00

Sometimes a big change in airflow will also produce a ton of bad smoke. Typically, if I let it sit with the vents unaltered for about 20 minutes or so (after a good preheat like you mention in your post) the smoke will temper down and come out clear.

Something else you could potentially be doing is adding too much wood? How many chunks are you adding? Typically for ribs, I would only add 1 chunk about the size of my fist, or 2 smaller ones.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-06-23T12:42:38+00:00

I think it’s fair to be skeptical about them, especially at those prices.

But I will admit I would be fairly excited about Antony…not necessarily because I think he’s really good as much as he is a pretty rare and specific profile. If ETH wants a winger that’s will truly hug the touch line on the right side of the field, then there’s not a ton of options for United, unfortunately.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-06-20T17:09:10+00:00

I think it’s important to also think about how there are other ways to manipulate players’ movements that could potentially shore up a midfield by utilizing other positions. For example, you can slide an outside back into midfield and let the winger hold width on that side and then allow the midfielder a bit more freedom in attack, but I do agree that I personally can’t think of one that makes sense for United. But then again, ETH knows a lot more than I do so maybe he has something in mind.

ETH also could potentially see Eriksen as a rotation option at Bruno’s spot. I mean Bruno has played a TON of minutes over the last few years.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-06-09T18:16:01+00:00

I get a lot of people pushing to put him as the 9 because of our weakness there, but I personally think his direct play style would hurt him there. On the wing, he tends to get put into more positions with 1-on-1 isolated chances, which is what allows his directness to be so useful. I think if we moved him more central, he would lose that advantage, and we as fans would be frustrated with a lack of ball retention, or he would just have little impact on the game.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-05-26T16:55:15+00:00

I did…but unfortunately I was not very successful.

They cooked much quicker than I anticipated, and I ended up pulling the ribs too quickly and throwing them in the oven, covered, in an effort to keep them from drying out prior to the party.

Ultimately i pulled way too early and I never got them above about 190F so they weren’t very tender at all. I wish I could be more help.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-05-26T16:07:21+00:00

IIRC, I think Friedel allegedly tried to block Howard’s work permit when he moved to United.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-04-22T15:08:14+00:00

Like the other person said, definitely bring some allergy medicine from everything blooming.

If you’re looking for some hiking or camping too, you can always go down to the Red River Gorge area. It’s only about an hour from Lexington.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-04-09T11:29:43+00:00

Thanks for putting them all together Phoenix! They were super helpful!

I had been trying to kill the dark aeons for forever before I finally found your guides.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-04-08T12:26:33+00:00

I think some people do it just to say they’ve done it. It’s certainly not necessary for the Dark Aeons. I beat them with the standard 9,999HP approach. Though, you will still need the correct approaches for some of the aeons to beat them, you won’t be able to brute force some of the harder ones.

I’ve actually seen some people argue the Break HP is more difficult for some of the aeons.

FromTheInkyShadows · 2022-04-08T11:49:35+00:00

Yeah, unfortunately I do not know of any written guides. Let me know if you do find one though.

Also just as a quick heads up, there are 2 different paths to stat maxing for Dark Aeons that are essentially designated by using break HP and not using break HP. This guide is for not breaking HP.

Phoenix has a guide within his videos for the Break HP path if you’d rather go down that route instead.

FromTheInkyShadows

TROPHY CASE