Ruben Amorim says none of his injured stars are ready to return for Manchester United’s Premier League match against Tottenham on Sunday.
Amorim was answering questions at the pre-match press conference and was asked whether Mason Mount, Luke Shaw or Victor Lindelof are ready.
“No,” he said. “It was a good week until two days ago, we had some problems, we don’t have players back, maybe we have one or two issues, we are waiting. We have one player who is sick, we will see on the weekend.”
Asked about the news of further job losses at United, he replied:
“Our biggest problem now is Tottenham, we know the moment of the club, I have to understand these problems, but these problems in our club are not new. We have a problem at the moment, but that cannot influence how I coach the team and prepare for the next game.”
“Here it’s simple: to do something we need to sell players.
The boss was asked whether he felt Ineos’ plan to win the Premier League by 2028 is realistic.
“Yes, we talk about that, our focus is to win the Premier League and we can change everything in a few years. In this moment, we are in a difficult position, but we need to work every day and focus on the little steps.”
Turning to Sunday’s opponents and the difficult position Ange Postecoglu is in, Amorim said:
“I am a huge fan of Ange Postecoglou. He is a good guy, a very good coach. I understand the connection with me and Ange. We have the same problem. In my opinion, and with respect, I am at a bigger club, with bigger pressure, and I think coaches must follow their principles.
“He wants to play football in the right way and that’s a good thing. We know when we choose this profession. there are a lot of good things, but you have to feel the pressure when you don’t win.”
The head coach was then asked if he had seen Chido Obi’s hat-trick in midweek and whether he was under consideration for a call up to the senior side.
“I don’t want to say names. We have to be careful on that,” he replied.
“They are working with us – we had some problems this week – and we had some young players in training. He [Obi] is one of them.”
Finally, a reporter asked why Amorim thought players who had left the club seemed to perform better and whether it was a case of playing with more freedom.
“I don’t know, sometimes it’s like that, it can happen with any club,” he replied.
“This club has a lot of pressure and you have to have a base of a team to put younger and talented players that came from abroad to help them. if you are playing better as a team, and you have a strong core, like it’s supposed to be at this club, it will be more easy for these kind of players to play football.”
Sunday’s game in London kicks off at 4.30pm.
Featured image Alex Livesey 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.
