Ruben Amorim insists “it’s not about the system”.
The head coach’s comments were made in the embargoed section of the pre-match presser ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League match against Burnley.
Amorim was asked if he would change his 3-4-3 system if he believed it would help his side to win. He replied “I just want to win. If I think it is better to change, I would change right away. But if I’m going to change because something is not working, I don’t believe the players will understand.
“They’ll think: this guy is telling us one thing, but he’s not believing in it. So it’s not about the system.”
Asked if he can guarantee he will still be Manchester United head coach after the international break, he said:
“I do NOT know what is going to happen. That is my idea [to stay], but again, I am not going to promise you nothing, what is going to be the future. But I’m the manager of Manchester United and I think that is not going to change.”
“Sometimes I am so frustrated with the team that I think of one thing, then I return to my normal behaviour. I will live day by day, I am tired of saying that I will not behave like this or like that. I will be myself, I have a lot of passion and I want to succeed more than anyone else.”
Asked if he remains confident, he said: “Yes. It depends on the day!
“But I’m confident because I saw these players play really well in tough matches and I see it in training, the training is so much better.
“We need to win for confidence. Football is special, we had a great pre-season, a good match against Arsenal despite the defeat, then there were those 30 minutes against Fulham where there was clearly a lack of confidence and that spread to the next match.
“I was not surprised, I was shocked in the last game, I was shocked. That’s why you see that game, this is not our team, the way we are doing things.
“So I’m always confident in the way I manage the team. And then I’m trying to remind myself if Bruno scores that penalty [against Fulham], if we have three first opportunities against Fulham, we score a goal. Things will be really different.
“And sometimes it’s that small difference that changes the narrative and you can see it in one week, it looks like a different club.
“There’s no excuse [for the Grimsby loss], because I didn’t put just a team that don’t play so much, they played in pre-season, it was not just guys that are from the academy, a mix, no, it was [everyone] in the right position.
“I could play that team the next game. We had Kobbie [Mainoo], Manu [Ugarte], Harry Maguire, [Matheus] Cunha, [Benjamin] Sesko, Amad, Diogo [Dalot], Patrick [Dorgu]. So that is the frustration of a coach, so that’s why it’s hard.
“I don’t know what happened, but in the normal day, [they would do] so much better.”
Explaining again his threat to quit after the Grimsby game, he said he just needs 10 minutes by himself to calm down sometimes.
“I don’t need anyone, but I’m going to be like that. When you say I want to quit, it’s that, ‘f—ing, I want to quit, I don’t love the players’. I hate sometimes my kids, so I’m going to be like that! That is not going to change.
“Sometimes it’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a funny thing, I’m going to suffer. We just need to win some games. So we cannot change that fact. We need to focus on the next game, and if we start winning, things are going to be easier to do.”
The first part of the press conference is covered here. Tomorrow’s match kicks off at Old Trafford at 3pm.
Featured image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
