Ruben Amorim has responded to criticism from Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville by admitting he cannot ‘run away from results’ as the Manchester United head coach fights to save his job.
United take on Sunderland at Old Trafford on Saturday with Amorim under increasing pressure after losing half of his six Premier League games this season and crashing out of the Carabao Cup to Grimsby.
Rooney said earlier this week that he has no faith in Amorim turning United’s season around, while Neville pinpointed the 40-year-old’s stubbornness and inflexibility over his 3-4-2-1 system.
Asked about the comments from the two former United players at his pre-match press conference, Amorim said: ‘It is normal. You can’t run away from the results. Then you have the baggage from last season. Last season for me doesn’t matter.’
On his system, the United boss defended his approach by insisting it cannot be wrong if it has worked in some games and not others: ‘We already spoke about that,’ he said. ‘We have had six games this season, and we lost three. We have to look to the games that we lost. If we lost to Arsenal because of the system, it is your job to make the opinion.
‘When you look at the game against Manchester City, is the first thing you think when the game starts the system? I think you don’t think about the system in that moment. And Brentford, the way we concede goals, the way we create chances, there is nothing to do with the system. That is my opinion.
‘I am not saying this team would play better in a different system or not, that is not my point. My point is, if I look at the games we didn’t win, the most important thing when I watch the game is not we lost because of the system.
‘You cannot say one thing doesn’t work, when it works one weekend. If one thing doesn’t work, it doesn’t work every day. We didn’t lose because of the system. That is my opinion and people have different opinions. That is okay.’
Amorim admitted that he and his team are under pressure ahead of the Sunderland game but have to handle it. ‘It is going to be a really tough match,’ he added. ‘They are doing really well. They are confident and it is clear we will be under pressure. We have to be able to play with that and we are prepared.’
United will pay tribute to the victims of the Manchester synagogue attack at Saturday’s game. ‘It’s a crazy world that we are living in, a lot of these things,’ said Amorim. ‘Of course our sympathy to the victims and we will pay tribute tomorrow.’
