Amorim adamant on sticking to his formation and system, says ‘not even the pope’ can make him change his system.
Ruben Amorim says ‘not even the pope’ can make him change his system at United.
In spite of Manchester United’s dismal start to the season, Ruben Amorim asserted that “not even the pope” could force him to change his 3-4-3 formation.
After a season in which United has collected four points from four league games, lost to Grimsby in the second round of the Carabao Cup, and performed poorly overall, Amorim has come under fire for adhering to a single system. Throughout that run, the Portuguese has maintained that he is not for turning, a point he reaffirmed in a forceful, dramatic manner before Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford this evening.
“Not even the pope will change [my thinking on] this. This is my responsibility. This is my life,” he said. “If I’m a player and I have a coach that with a lot of pressure all around the world is being told: ‘You need to change the system’ and I’m going to change – they [the players] will look at me in a different way. So, I will not change that, but there will be an evolution. But we need to make all the good steps [first].”
Since joining United from RB Leipzig for £73.5 million in the summer, Benjamin Sesko has not scored in five games. Lack of service has contributed to this, as it also hindered Rasmus Højlund before the Denmark striker’s loan transfer to Napoli. But Amorim isn’t worried about history happening again.
Amorim acknowledged that Sesko’s first start for United last weekend, a 3-0 loss to Manchester City, was hampered by a lack of service to the striker.
“If you remember Arsenal [in the opening game of the season] we missed a lot [of chances]. Burnley, we missed a lot. Fulham in the beginning, we missed a lot”.
“Against City, Sesko looks like he’s alone in the box, I agree,” said the head coach. “In the final third we get there many times [but] when I look at the box, Ben was alone. We cannot score in that way. But [overall] I think it’s not the same team in that department compared to last year.”
Amorim also defended deploying Bruno Fernandes in midfield. “I want Bruno deeper, to have more possession, to try to control the game more. And we are doing that,” he said. “Sometimes we miss Bruno a little bit up front. Maybe because [Mathues] Cunha is not there. But if Cunha is there, we have one extra player.”