Manchester United had a so-called "plan" in place ahead of their Premier League clash against Sunderland, and it involved Ruben Amorim and the implications of a heavy defeat.
Coming into Saturday's must-win game at Old Trafford, an under-fire Amorim was being linked with the sack following a poor start to the 2025-26 campaign.
In fact, after three defeats from their opening six league matches, The Telegraph claimed the Portuguese head coach could be sacked if they lost to Regis Le Bris's newly-promoted Sunderland.
The report suggests a growing number of players are 'losing faith' in Amorim to improve matters on the pitch, and 'concerns' have been raised about how consistently poor results are impacting the confidence of the squad.
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But after all the talking, United managed to secure a much-needed three points on Saturday afternoon as first-half goals from Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko sealed a deserved 2-0 victory.
A few hours after the full-time whistle and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano gave an insight into United's "plan" coming into the game.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano began: “What is happening is also that Man Utd won the game against Sunderland and closed all the speculation, at least for the next few weeks, for Ruben Amorim, so they head into the international break way more relaxed.
“The new goalkeeper, Senne Lammens, finally started and got a clean sheet – and so a very good start for Lammens and a very good result for Amorim.
"As I told you guys, Manchester United were not going to sack Amorim even if they were going to lose the game against Sunderland. Even in that case, he was not going to be fired.
“That was the plan of Man Utd unless completely crazy things happened, like losing, I don’t know, 3 or 4 or 5-0. But, for example, losing the game, I don’t know, 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, something like that – Amorim was not going to be fired.”
Fabrizio Romano comments on rumours linking Gareth Southgate to Man Utd job
Despite playing down suggestions that they have started looking for successors to replace the under-pressure Amorim, United have been linked with a handful of names of late.
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner was listed as one of the contenders on Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s shortlist alongside Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola and free agent Graham Potter, who was recently sacked by West Ham.
Former England boss Gareth Southgate has also been mentioned by sections of the media, but Fabrizio Romano has since played down those suggestions.
“Man Utd’s message was quite clear and they never contacted other managers," he said.
“I spent basically the last 10 days telling you that Gareth Southgate was in the media, but there was never a concrete negotiation between Man Utd and Southgate or his representatives.
“There is a very good relationship between Southgate and INEOS, but never a negotiation. And Man United wanted to show their support to Amorim.”
Topics: Man Utd, Premier League, Ruben Amorim, Sunderland, Fabrizio Romano
Jack Kenmare