Ruben Amorim says he was talking about himself and not his players when he said this could be the worst team in United’s history.
The United head coach was speaking at the pre-match press conference this lunchtime ahead of Manchester United’s Europa League clash with Rangers tomorrow.
Amorim was asked what the player’s response had been to his angry reaction to the 1-3 loss to Brighton.
“First of all, I want to talk about that. I was talking more about myself than for my players. It’s more for me, talking more about me than the players.
“You have to look at a coach that loses eight games in the first twelve”.
“If you look around when I speak, every time you push about the players not being good enough, I take the spotlight away from my players. I understand I gave you that headline but I get frustrated sometimes.
“Sometimes it’s really hard to hide the frustration in some moments.
“They’ve trained well and they’re ready for the next game.”
Asked why he would take responsibility away from the players by blaming himself, he replied:
“I’m not taking responsibility away from the players, what I’m saying is the message you guys show was that I’m putting on the players. In this moment, we are performing really bad and our results are really bad in the moment. It’s everything together, the players, the staff, and I’m the biggest responsible for the results.
“What I’m saying is that we have to improve in the details. We are too anxious, too anxious with the ball, too nervous. And then if you have a little inexperience in this game, when you fall in this context, it’s really hard to come up, especially if you’re a massive club.
“It is what it is. Was it the right time to say it? Probably not. I’m saying I’m really direct. At the moment we are playing really bad and the results are really bad in the moment. Everything is bad, the players, the staff. I’m just saying I’m the most responsible, because I’m the coach and I have that responsibility.
Asked again about his comments about anxiety, he replied:
“I think that is clear. I could say different things and say no, no, it’s the same thing, we have the support of the fans… No. We are more nervous playing at home than away. We lost four games in five, so it’s getting harder, but we can improve. If we don’t suffer the first goal in the fourth minute, the tenth minute, the fifteenth … it’s hard. We need the first thing in my mind, they cannot score. We need to score the first goal and we’ll play better at home.
“The most important thing is to think we can improve right away in the next match. Imagine tomorrow we don’t suffer a goal at the start, we score and play well, and then we go to Fulham and we win it. It will change the environment here and everything.
“What I knew since the first day, when I arrived, I knew that changing things, we are going to suffer and for me, that was really clear. I don’t want to say it’s going to take a lot of time. Loss after loss, it’s really hard for everybody, but we can change that tomorrow.”
In response to a comment about being nervous, he said:
“I was frustrated, frustrated is not nervous. I said the team was nervous. If you say it’s good for the players to see the coach frustrated, maybe not.
“I’m being honest. If you want, I can be delusional and say different things. I see it as I saw it, it’s a good thing to be honest with you.”
“They [the players] know. If you are in the stadium, you can see it. So let’s face it and work on it. But I’m not nervous, I’m frustrated.”
Asked why he changed his methods and confronted the players immediately after the game rather than waiting until the morning, he replied.
“No I was not thinking. I’m a young guy, and sometimes I make a mistake and that’s why I usually wait.”
Asked about the possible sale of Alejandro Garnacho, he said “let’s focus on the game, I don’t want to talk about that, especially before a game.”
On tomorrow’s opponents, Amorim said:
“We expect a tough match. A lot of physicality during the game. I know some important players for Rangers don’t play so we have to know the new players.
“The full-backs are really high and they have talent to score in the final third, so it’s one more difficult game and it’s important for us because we want to skip the [Europa League] play-off, it’s important to have time to train.
“The Rangers fans will make some noise, so we are prepared, and our fans will be prepared, we want to win.”
Asked about Rangers’ position, he noted the similarities and finished by saying “I feel for the Rangers coach.”
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.
