Ruben Amorim offers honest take on Man Utd squad after 'losing belief' under Erik ten Hag
Manchester United are down in 13th place in the Premier League, with Ruben Amorim brought in to resurrect the club following Erik ten Hag's sacking
by David McDonnell · The MirrorRuben Amorim says he believes in the Manchester United players he has inherited - despite them getting Erik ten Hag the sack.
United are down in 13th place in the Premier League, with Amorim brought in to resurrect the club following Ten Hag's sacking. Despite the poor start to the season by United, Amorim said he has belief in faith in the current squad and is confident he can improve them with his methods.
"It is a belief," said Amorim. "You have to believe and I believe in them. When I start this week, you can say it's just one week and three training sessions, but they are open to different things. The only thing I ask of them is hard work and that you have to believe in the ideas.
"I have a contract of two-and-a-half years. I think in two years you can understand if I'm the right manager to go in this process. We will need more time.
"If you look at the clubs who are winning this league, they have been doing this process for a long time. I understand we will need more than two and a half years and that we have to win something, somewhere, but in two years you can understand if you want to continue this part or change."
On United's players adapting to his methods and new 3-4-3 formation, Amorim said: "They want to play. In this first moment, they just want to play. It's easy, so in the future we will see. You can watch them on TV, but you have to train with them to see if they can play in different positions. Everyone wants to play now - if they have the opportunity to play as a goalkeeper, they will!"
Asked if he felt the players had lost belief in themselves under Ten Hag, Amorim said: "That's for sure, but it's normal when players don’t win games - you start to be suspicious of the way of playing. You can understand, when they walk to the game or in the warm up, you can understand if they are confident or not.
"I think they have to have help, but they are ready to cope with the demands of games in the Premier League. You see, sometimes they have a bad first half and then in the second half they will change, so they have to find that mindset.
"As a coach you have to choose one way or another, I always choose 100 percent our way. I choose to risk a bit. I believe so much in our way of playing and they will believe too. There is no second way.
"We will adapt some players because we don’t have a different profile. Maybe on Sunday you will see the starting 11 and not feel a lot of change, but you will see it in the game and the positioning or where they receive the ball, the changes made."
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