Man United are rock bottom in the Premier League after failing to listen to Amorim's frustration

Manchester United lacked intensity and physicality against Fulham, two things that Ruben Amorim stressed about improving.

Although Matheus Cunha rescued a 1-1 draw against Fulham, the overall Manchester United performance caused concern.

United were outrun by Fulham and criticism has piled in about the lack of intensity and energy shown by Michael Carrick’s side.

While Carrick dismissed accusations of his United team being passive, the statistics prove that the Red Devils are rock bottom in the Premier League.

Manchester United’s out-of-possession stats are shocking

If Carrick isn’t concerned about United’s fitness, running and intensity, then that in itself is a concern.

That is because Sky Sports have published the out-of-possession stats for the Premier League so far, and United sit at the very bottom of the pile.

Category

Statistic

Premier League rank

Distance at high intensity19.03km20thTime at high intensity49.6 minutes20thSprints24320thTime sprinting9.2 minutes20th% time walking51.1%17th

United rank last for high intensity distance and time, sprints and the amount of time sprinting.

Incredibly, captain Bruno Fernandes made one sprint against Fulham and that was all. If even the Portuguese playmaker is lacking intensity, then that will infect the rest of the squad.

Man United didn’t listen to Ruben Amorim

It is easy to dismiss a lot of what Ruben Amorim did as United head coach because of his results, but he did expose some glaring issues in the squad.

Within weeks in the job, Amorim stressed that United needed to improve physically, and to put it simply: Run more.

Amorim urged United to run like “mad dogs” if they wanted to win the Premier League, and slowly but surely, the physical stats of the team began to improve.

Back in November, 2025, Amorim said: “The most important is the intensity. You can feel it right away, when we start the game. We can feel when we are at the top level in intensity and when we are not, and you cannot win games in this way.”

United have failed to listen. Instead, Carrick has shortened training and it is having an impact on the physicality of the side. The stats are simply there to prove it.