Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has doubled down on his comments that he is “embarrassed” at the team’s lowly 16th place in the Premier League table.
United lost again at home to West Ham on Sunday in a result that left Amorim wondering out loud if he should leave the club and let somebody else revive this ailing giant.
Although he has led the club to a winner-takes-all Europa League final clash with Tottenham that could lead to an ill-deserved Champions League place (and a barbecue), that is just a sticking plaster on the worst season of United’s Premier League history.
But the good news is that Amorim seems to think he knows how to fix things, saying: “I talk with the board, with everybody and even with the fans in every moment. I have a clear feeling that I know what this team needs to be so much better, and that has helped me to maintain that level of not go down so much and not so high in some moments.
“It’s hard to find another word. I’m really embarrassed that in 25 games we’ve won six. Something is wrong in the way we are playing football, and sometimes it is not about the way we play tactically and technically.
“It’s the way we face competition and the way we suffer and the way we get mad because we are losing, and the way we protect the goal. These things we need to improve, and sometimes it’s not just inside the pitch, it is outside the pitch.
“That feeling that I’m talking to fight until the end, the way we face competition. It’s not okay to lose, it’s not okay to draw.
“It doesn’t matter if we can change our position in the league or not – that feeling is nothing about confidence. It’s about the belief and the understanding that we are Manchester United, and we don’t want to be the worst in the league.
“Our position is unacceptable and, for me, that is not a lack of confidence, that is a lack of something more profound.”
His comments are unlikely to go down well with pundit Danny Murphy, who is not a fan of any negativity.
“I’m not a big fan of a manager continually and consistently talking negatively about how bad things are and how bad it is, how we’re the worst team, worst United team in the Premier League etc.
“I’d like to hear a bit more solution-based answers and a bit more positivity and moving forward and thinking forward.”
Amorim’s position at Manchester United is set to be reviewed at the end of the season, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe reportedly unimpressed with the suggestion that getting a Champions League place might not be the best thing for the club.
The Mirror say: ‘Those remarks have put Amorim on a collision course with the United hierarchy, who need the team to win the final because of the £100million the club will earn by reaching the Champions League.’