Ruben Amorim says Diogo Dalot, Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro might get minutes in tomorrow’s Europa League final against Spurs in Bilbao.
“They recovered quite well. They pushed. Of course, we respect the feeling of the player but we pushed a little bit. They can help us win the game.
“De Ligt is out.”
Asked whether he thought winning tomorrow will signal a new future for himself, Amorim replied:
“A new future for me, I think, is not the case. People will look at our team in a different way, as winning a European title is really important. Nothing is going to change our season, but winning a European title can help us have that feeling to build a future.”
The next question was about whether winning would mean saving jobs at Old Trafford.
“Again, I don’t think that is the case;” he replied.
“We are doing things that we need to do. Our club can have revenues without Champions League. It is a big brand. I am always playing for more than myself. I am coaching for my players, my staff and especially our fans.”
The boss was then asked whether he felt United had an advantage having played a strong team against Chelsea on Friday.
“The advantage, I don’t know,” Amorim responded. “You have to see the context. I don’t know the context of Tottenham. We rested some players after Bilbao because we were afraid of some injuries.
“Five days before the final, I thought the best thing to prepare the final was to give the players the chance to play. It was really clear that we need to compete. The best way to prepare for something is to compete. I felt that against Chelsea. When we are focused and play our game, we can control any game in any place.”
Amorim was then asked if he would be prepared to play a system without a striker as had happened when United won the FA Cup last year..
“Our system is a normal system that can change the characteristics,” he replied. “It is a system like any other. It doesn’t matter what happened in the last final because it was a different team, a different competition and a different context. I just focus on Tottenham and the way that they play.”
The next question was how big Amorim thinks the problems are at the club and how long it will take to fix them.
“I think it’s hard to speak about that in this moment because we need to be excited and confident. But we already know the problems, there’s a lot of things we need to change in our club. Recruitment, the academy, I think we need to improve. It’s hard to pick one thing, that will not be solved by winning a cup.
“For me, we have bigger things to deal to put this club back to the top. Tomorrow, it will be important for us, for our fans, winning will give us the feeling that we have strength to do it. Tomorrow will be massive for us and our fans.”
The head coach was asked if he was relieved he was not in the same situation as tomorrow’s counterpart, Ange Postecoglu, who said he might be sacked regardless of the result.
Bruno Fernandes intervened. “He is! Who told you he’s not [in the same position], he is!”
Amorim laughed. “He [Fernandes] wants my job! He’ll be a very very good coach. But he’ll have to work on his mindset. He doesn’t know how to deal with people! [alughing]
“I don’t know. In this kind of club, also Tottenham, it is strange that you have some coaches who lose games and get sacked. I think people see that sometimes I am thinking more about the club than myself.
“We have a lot of issues that in the context is really hard. I don’t know how to explain how the fans like me in this moment. I try to prove myself to the fans, to the board, but I don’t have an explanation for you. But it’s a thing about me, I don’t worry about that. I know what I’m doing. I explain everything. Before we start, I explained about the storm. I explained all the problems we had to the board. I explained I would not change my idea, so they know they cannot say one thing that I said to get the job and then I changed my mind. It was the opposite.
“I think the board can understand that, the fans can understand that, but we will reach a moment when we have to win no matter what. ”
Finally, Laurie Whitwell from The Athletic asked how much extra time and penalties come into his thinking when he makes his selection.
“I just think the best starting XI to start the game. It is then really important to have options on the bench to change the game. Sometimes it is really important to win a final.
“I am not thinking about going to extra time. Of course, we have that possibility, but we never think about that. Maybe in the final minutes, you wait for the extra time, you have to think about the possibility but in the beginning of the game, I just want to win the game really fast.
“But we know, as we proved against Lyon, if we have to score three goals in six minutes, we are able to do it.”
Amorim was joined by Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire at the presser. Their comments can be read in a separate article, here on The Peoples Person.
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.
