‘Just have to survive’ says Amorim to his under-fire Man United after suffering their fourth loss in five games.
‘Just have to survive’ is the message from Man United manager Ruben Amorim as his side slumped to another loss.
Defeat to Wolves on boxing day means his side has now lost 4 out if the last 5 games in all competitions.
Following a crushing Boxing Day loss at Wolves, where his captain, Bruno Fernandes, was sent off early in the second half after receiving a second yellow card, United’s Portuguese manager cited the lack of time to train his players as a roadblock to advancement.
Since Walter Crickmer in January 1932, Amorim is the first United manager to lose up to five of his first ten games as manager of the team across all competitions.
“I manage but I didn’t train [the players],” said Amorim, who replaced Erik ten Hag six weeks ago. “They need time to train, they are completely changing the way of playing, it is really hard on them and for the staff to pass on all the information. When you don’t have results, it’s even harder for them to believe.
“In this moment we just have to survive and to win some time to work on the team. We already knew it. I started this job, with the team, the new idea. Without any time to train, with a lot of tough games. It is a long journey. We have to continue to fight these bad moments. We need time to work. We’ll also have to win games to sell the idea to the players. If not, it is really hard.”
Matheus Cunha of Wolves scored straight from a corner, which was almost exactly the same goal Son Heung-min scored in Tottenham’s 4-3 Carabao Cup quarterfinal triumph last week. Cunha acknowledged that his teammates were asked to disturb United goalie André Onana in order to “manage” him.
“We analyse every match and we, myself and all the staff try to understand the spaces we can explore and we tried to not allow them to do it against us,” said the Wolves head coach, Vítor Pereira, who maintained his 100% start after securing back to back victories since succeeding Gary O’Neil. “He [Cunha] is a top player, a special player, he can make the difference in the small details.”
Asked whether United can think about qualifying for Europe, Amorim replied. “We have to work on a lot of things in our club, inside the pitch, outside the pitch. So let’s focus on each game, each time. We have to use every minute of training and to improve the team.”