Ruben Amorim reveals his first Man Utd challenge: "We know that we need time"
Ruben Amorim has replaced Erik ten Hag as Manchester United manager and wants to quickly implement a identity to get the Red Devils moving in the right direction again
by David McDonnell · The MirrorRuben Amorim has described Manchester United as the “engine of the Premier League ” and vowed to get them motoring again on the road to success.
Under Erik ten Hag, United broke down completely, stranded on football's hard shoulder, the team possessing no clear identity or direction, which led to his sacking after two-and-a-half years.
But former Sporting Lisbon boss Amorim, brought in to rescue the team, said United will show their new identity under him from his very first game in charge, at Ipswich a week tomorrow.
“We know that we are the engine of football,” said Amorim. “ Manchester United is the engine of the Premier League, in my opinion.
“When Manchester United talked to me, they told me about their plans and you get excited. It's a real honour, because I was the first choice to start that path. So it's a great responsibility.
“We know that if the team plays well and wins games, everything looks so much better. 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, from day one, we will start with our identity. 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.
“For me, it's a team. If I have to say in one word, the team is the most important thing for me. If you work as a team, then the talent individually is going to shine.
“If I have to explain the importance of everything, it's the character, the way we fight, the way we play - and we must have an identity. If our players take the shirt, they will know that it's the Manchester United team.
“Everybody wants to win and I want to win with my players, with the fans, but with an identity and one idea, that ' s the thing that I'm focused on all the time.”
Amorim said he will draw on United's rich history to inspire him and said he has been struck by the club's storied past, from the Munich disaster through to the unprecedented era of success under Sir Alex Ferguson decades later.
“When you come here it's so different,” said Amorim, who was given a guided tour of Old Trafford this week.
“You see the trophies, you see the tragedy that we have as a club. So you can understand the history, after the crash, then we were European champions.
“This kind of strength, I think it's important to put in our team. When the players come here, they should make the same tour with the same guy all the time. I think this is very important to do.
“It's one thing that you have to feel that this is Manchester United and and it's normal. If you are a lot of years without winning, you start losing that.
“So you have to be very clear on the message that you want to put on the players. So I think we need to put all the players doing the same thing, to regain that feeling.”
*The full interview with Ruben Amorim is available on MUTV and United's official website.
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