Ruben Amorim: It's 'impossible' to improve Man Utd

Carlo Garganese

29 Jan 2025 08:00 CST
4 min read

Ruben Amorim, Man Utd, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

Ruben Amorim has explained why he has had such a difficult start to his reign at Old Trafford and the reasons for Manchester United's struggles.

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Amorim says that it's impossible to improve his team's fortunes right now because - due to the volume of matches - he doesn't have enough time to train his players.

Amorim was appointed as Man Utd manager just three months ago, on November 1, following the sacking of Erik ten Hag.

The 39-year-old arrived with high hopes after a brilliant spell at Sporting Lisbon, where he won two Primeira Liga titles and developed a host of talented players such as Viktor Gyokeres.

However, Amorim’s first few months at Old Trafford have been largely disastrous.

United have won seven, drawn three and lost seven of Amorim’s opening 17 games on the bench.

This represents the worst start by a Man Utd manager statistically in 94 years.

United find themselves in 12th position in the Premier League with no hope of qualifying for the Champions League and slim chances of making it into Europe.

Amorim has attempted to explain why his Man Utd team has struggled since he took the job, and he says it will be hard to improve matters too much currently due to a lack of training time.

© IMAGO - Ruben Amorim has had a tough start at Man Utd

What has Ruben Amorim said?

"It’s the start of work and the details may be more important,” Amorim told TNT Sports Mexico.

"We already know that everything that doesn’t end up in the first place doesn’t mean anything to a club like Manchester United. But at this point, we also have to have a sense of the context. So, I don’t look at the table.

"I look at what the team is doing, the things we have to improve. And if we look at the table and try to win two games at a time, to go up the table a lot, I don’t think it’s going to work. So, at this point, it’s just thinking about the next game.

“I think that we… I was watching Fulham’s game for the second time. The positions are there, but there are a lot of routines missing,” he added. “There’s no time to train the routines.

"They’re trying to do it, but without the routines, there’s no aggressiveness in the moves. With the ball, especially with the ball. Without the ball it’s easier. There are a lot of rules without the ball. It’s easier to explain.

“With the ball, it has a lot to do with understanding the space, what the opponent is doing. We want to do something, but then the opponent covers certain spaces and we, with the routines, we can see that the game is not like that anymore. It’s another way.

“Without training, it’s impossible. I would say that they’re trying to do the positions we want, the idea we want, to try to have more ball. But obviously, a lot is missing. And that’s felt in the lack of opportunities. The lack of routines is very noticeable.

“If one does the wrong move, it compromises the rest. It’s a bit like that. They have to read each other. If the ball is on one side, the one on the back of the colleague has to realise what kind of move he’s going to make according to the colleague in front. All of this takes a lot of routine. When there’s that routine, the games are much easier. There are answers for everything.”

United are next in action on Thursday in the Europa League away against FCSB.