What will fans see in Amorim’s first game as coach?

What will fans see in Amorim’s first game as coach?

The countdown is on to Ruben Amorim’s first game as Manchester United head coach, and the Portuguese has already revealed what Reds everywhere can expect to see when his maiden starting XI takes to the pitch.

His debut comes in East Anglia next Sunday (24 November), when he will lead United into our Premier League match with Ipswich Town (16:30 GMT).

The fixture was a hot topic of conversation in Ruben’s fascinating first interview as United boss, which MUTV subscribers can also watch via ManUtd.com and the United app.

Amorim acknowledges he will have had just two training sessions with the full squad before we face Kieran McKenna’s Tractor Boys, due to the ongoing international break. 

Nevertheless, he insisted United fans would immediately see an ‘idea’ of what his United team are going to be working towards during the coming months and years.

Ruben Amorim | The First Interview Video

Ruben Amorim | The First Interview

FIRST INTERVIEW | It’s here! MUTV subscribers have exclusive access to Ruben’s opening words as United head coach…

“I think you will see an idea,” Amorim began. “You could like it or not, I don’t know, but you will see an idea. 

“You will see a positioning. You will see something that we want to reach that kind of level. You will feel that. 

“We have to know that it’s like two trainings before the first match. This is the best league in the world. But if I have to say something to you, [it’s that] you will see an idea. This I can guarantee.”

The former Sporting coach also covered the much-discussed three-at-the-back set-up that he employed in Lisbon, and said that his main aim was not a particular formation but the character and identity of his team.

“A lot of people now talk about the 3-4-3 and the 4-3-3 and all that stuff,” he said. “But when I think as a player or as a team-mate of Manchester United, it is not a system or formation – it’s like the character of the players, the way they see the club. 

“So we have to focus on that before everything [in terms] of how we play, how we press. The most important thing for me, at this moment, is to create the principles, the identity and the character that we had in the past.”

The priorities for the new man are clear in his mind. As the trip to Portman Road and a first Old Trafford outing, against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League, come into view, what follows is a December crammed with action, with nine fixtures across the final month of 2024.

“For me, of course you are in the club, you have to win,” he stressed. “We know that we need time, but we have to win time.

“To win time is to win games but the most important thing for me is identity. So, since day one, we didn’t start training, we didn’t have the players. But, since day one, we will start with our identity. Of course, we are going to prepare [for] the games, but we will focus a lot in our game model.

“How to play, how to press, these small things, small details. You cannot go 100 per cent on every detail because it will be confusing for the players. So if I have to say one thing, my main goal, my first goal, is identity.”

Subscribe now for immediate access to Ruben Amorim’s first full-length video interview. 

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