Ruben Amorim can be forgiven a wistful glance towards Portugal as the team he left behind clinched another title.

His instinct when Manchester United came knocking in autumn had been to see this season out at Sporting Lisbon.

He had them nicely calibrated in his style, accustomed to winning and had, in Victor Gyokeres, one of Europe’s more reliable sources of goals.

Amorim, meanwhile, having realised opportunities to manage the biggest clubs in the world do not appear every day, was searching for a way to pitch the misery of a 15th defeat in six months at Old Trafford alongside the excitement of the Europa League final.

United’s only wins in the last dozen outings are that skin-of-the-teeth escape against Lyon and home and away against Athletic Bilbao. The struggle for goals goes on and the only English teams they have beaten since the end of January are Leicester and Ipswich.

Man United boss Ruben Amorim may have wistfully glanced to his former club Sporting Lisbon

Sporting were crowned Portuguese champions on Saturday despite Amorim’s mid-season exit

Amorim had built a side calibrated in his style with Viktor Gyokeres a reliable source of goals

There is no magic elixir even if sometimes it seems others have found it.

Vitor Pereira has transformed Wolverhampton Wanderers and David Moyes led Everton out of trouble in time for them to enjoy the farewell to Goodison Park without fear of relegation.

Strong work by excellent coaches but the task set Amorim by Manchester United was not to tighten up, lift the mood and survive.

The remit was more expansive, it was to restore them to the top of the world, to thrill the masses, which is probably why he thought he would rather begin in the relative still of summer.

Erik ten Hag is not a bad coach. His work before Old Trafford shows us that.

He had United well drilled although still far short of where they needed to be, and Ten Hag’s time was up.

Unlike Ruud van Nistelrooy, who’s breezy four-game interim spell shows us the tonic of a fresh voice for players who are essentially well-coached but sick of the nasty old boss who had given up on them, Amorim was employed to do something drastically different.

And, as his only reference for success was at Sporting Lisbon, he came in and imposed the same methods.

Amorim has instead presided over 15 league defeats in six months since his Man United arrival

Amorim was right when he said things would get worse before they got better at Man United

While the likes of Bruno Fernandes have flourished, the team are yet to fully grasp his ideas

There have been winners among the players. Bruno Fernandes is revived. Harry Maguire and Casemiro, too. Mason Mount looks as if he is going to fit neatly into this system. For losers, look no further than the exiled Marcus Rashford.

If Amorim was right about one thing upon his arrival at Old Trafford, however, it was that things overall could get worse before they get better. Perhaps it would have been more prudent to have waited. To have bided his time before ripping everything up.

The Premier League is unforgiving. Even those teams we consider midranking boast financial clout to outbid most of the world for playing and coaching talent.

And with sophisticated analysis and recruitment technology they will find weakness in any opponent whether it is a goalkeeper who cannot command a high ball or an attacking full back who leave spaces to exploit.

Then it is down to the players. And, ultimately, it will always come down to the players though it’s easy to forget in an era when coaches are always on the TV telling the world about their game plan and how the players did or didn’t execute it properly.

To have the right leader is vital, setting the tone, creating a mood to help them thrive, making sure they have the right amount of tactical detail and that their egos are suitably massaged.

Yet that is little use without the right players, be that the right players to suit a particular tactical system or right players to reach the required levels of quality. Or both as in this case.

Amorim arrived fiercely committed to his tactical shape and style of play and forced it upon players he inherited at Manchester United. 

 Vitor Pereira and David Moyes have got a tune out of their sides after mid-season arrivals

While they tightened up their teams, Amorim was hired to do something drastically different 

There are of course parallels to Ange Postecoglou, who arrived at Tottenham with a distinct style forged over many years more and forced it upon those players who ended up playing when the majority of his first team were injured.

None of those like Pereira or Moyes, appointed and charged with securing survival, would do this. They would tighten up at the back, tweak and solidify to make their teams difficult to score against.

United and Spurs are the opposite. They have wilfully cut loose because their ambition is to dominate and entertain.

In doing so they have become too easy for decent teams to penetrate, score goals against and beat, because they do not have the players to do it, at least not all the time.

Up against each other, well it will probably be great fun in Bilbao.

Five things I learned this week

1. Crystal Palace should be embarking on a summer of celebration to mark their FA Cup triumph and not preparing to play Wolves. They should be parading the trophy on the streets of South London and Croydon, taking it into classrooms and youth clubs to inspire. What a shame the showpiece no longer stands alone as the grand finale of the English season. We have allowed it to be buried under the Premier League climax, which this year boils down to, drum roll please, who finishes fifth.

2. Daniel Munoz is like a force of nature on the right flank for Palace. With his fearless tenacity and relentless energy, he always reminded me of Francis Benali until he started scoring goals. Munoz was exceptional again in the FA Cup final, but I almost tumbled off the sofa when those sitting in judgment at Wembley decided he and not goalkeeper Dean Henderson was the man of the match.

Crystal Palace should be celebrating their FA Cup win rather than playing Wolves next Sunday

Daniel Munoz was a force of nature for Crystal Palace during their triumph at Wembley

Carlos Corberan has overseen a stunning turnaround since joining Valencia in December

3. When Carlos Corberan joined Valencia on Christmas Day, they looked doomed to relegation. Now they are halfway up La Liga, safe from the drop with only Barcelona and Real Madrid in better form since his appointment and Fulham have Corberan at the top of the list of potential candidates if they lose Marco Silva.

4. Teenage winger Yang Min-hyeok started eight games and scored twice after his loan move from Tottenham in January but the explosion of interest from South Korean fans meant QPR sold more shirts with his name printed on the back than any other player this season.

5. Luke Garrard ended nine fabulous years as Boreham Wood boss a year ago, stepping down after the final game of the season with relegation from the National League confirmed. By September, Garrard was back in charge and on Sunday, won promotion back to the fifth tier, his team beating Maidstone in the playoffs.