Ruben Amorim said he has no plans to walk away from the Manchester United job and insisted his system is not to blame for their struggles in an impassioned press conference.
HIs side face Sunderland on Saturday having suffered a third Premier League loss of the season against Brentford which left them 14th in the table and increased the pressure on the head coach.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said this week he is “very worried” about Amorim’s performance, while Jamie Carragher described the 40-year-old’s tenure as a “disaster” which “has to end”.
Ahead of Saturday’s game at Old Trafford, read the full transcript as Amorim outlines his determination to turn Manchester United’s form around, denies reports he is unhappy in Manchester, and argues that he used 4-4-2, rather than a back three, against Brentford.
You said after Brentford that you don’t fear losing your job. Why is that?
AMORIM: “Because the worst thing in this job is to not win games. That is the same feeling I had in Casa Pia when I lost in the third division.
“And then it’s a job. Of course, it’s a dream to be here. And I want to continue here. And I want to fight for this. But the problem is now, what makes me suffer is to lose games, not to lose my job.
“You fear to lose your job when you have to pay the bills and I don’t have that feeling. I just want to continue this. But when we don’t win games, that is the suffering that I have. It is not the fear of losing the job. I don’t care.
“I’m telling you when we finish the game and you can see me, I don’t care about my job. That hurt of not winning games or failing. That is the thing that hurts me the most.”
Is there any scenario in which you could walk away from the job?
AMORIM: “That is a decision of the board. I cannot do that. Sometimes I have that feeling and losing is hard. It’s so frustrating when you create the momentum, go to the next game, and something happens.
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“That feeling sometimes hurts me a lot. Also the players and especially the staff here.
“But that is not my decision. And I think it would be really hard to leave if I don’t do everything to follow my career here.”
You said your point of view is not influenced by media or social media. How difficult is it to stay in a bubble when there is so much talk?
AMORIM: “It’s really important because there is no one in the world that can read everything and listen to everything about people that understand football and not be influenced by that.
“So I’m trying to listen and to see all the games because I know that I see the game more times than all those guys together because they have to see all the games in the Premier League and give an opinion.
“My opinion is completely different because I see the games, I see the training, I understand my players, I understand what I’m doing and I follow my job this way because it’s impossible to survive in this club, listening to all the things.
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“I see a lot of things that my wife is talking with the media. That is such nonsense.
“Nobody in my family talks about that. We love living in England. You have no idea what is abuse here because you are so polite compared to my country where we are losing. So you have no idea. My family is really happy.
“It’s just me and my family that is struggling because I hate losing and I hate failing.”
Have the hierarchy given you any assurances, or do you sense that even if it gets uglier over the coming weeks, you’re still going to get patience?
AMORIM: “I’m not concerned about that and nobody here is naive. We understand that we need results to continue the project.
“We will reach a point that is impossible for everyone because this is a very big club with a lot of sponsors, with two owners. So it’s hard. That balance is really hard. So I’m not concerned about that.
“What I want is to see my team winning or losing playing the same way and we are not doing that, in the simple things of playing football that anyone can do.
“So my biggest problem is [if] my players believe in you guys when they say the problem of our team is the system.
“I get crazy about that because I can see the team, I see this team playing in a different system.
“We need to play the same way with the same power with the same intensity with the same focus. If you do that, the system doesn’t matter.”
Do you think you’re getting close to that point where the patience could go or do you feel like you’ve still got it?
AMORIM: “It doesn’t matter. I just need one more game because football is like that. We need one more game, we win, we get some hope and then in the next game we’ll see.
“That is always the same thing, so I don’t need a lot of time. It doesn’t matter for me, it’s just the next game that matters and the next game is [Saturday]. We just have to perform and we need to win.”
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Do you feel there’s mistrust in the three-at-the-back system in this country?
AMORIM: “It’s the results. Imagine that we won the first game against Arsenal and then you don’t miss the penalty and you win against Fulham, even without playing really well. Imagine that this happened.
“The trust in everything about our club, the system, the way we play, would be completely different.
“So, if you win, everything is okay. If you lose, you are doubting everything about yourself, about your team-mates, about the coach, everything. And that is normal.
“There is no back three against Brentford. Lately we play with Luke Shaw, two centre-backs and the right back. They play in different positions in the beginning.
“So it’s not three centre-backs, it’s the same thing with a little bit different positions. Against Brentford, second half, it was like a 4-4-2. The problem is that we were not good with the ball, we were soft without the ball and we lose.
“But imagine that we score the penalty. In the final goal we are trying to win the game, everyone is out of position. That can happen in the 4-3-3 or the 3-4-3. So I think the details matter more than the system.”
Have any of the players dared to suggest you should play with a back four?
AMORIM: “No. Guys, I’m the manager of the club, the big club. Is the media going to dictate what I’m going to do? It cannot be. It’s not possible to sustain that.
“I talk with the players every day and I explain point by point what is happening with our team. So again, it’s not a 3-4-3 all the time.
“I think we are thinking about the system but I think we need to look at all of the parts of the game. This team play in the different systems for many years, and you were talking about the lack of identity, no idea, whatever.
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“So it’s not the system. It’s the small details, the way we play the game. And I understand what people think. ‘What would this team be in a different system?’ I don’t know. Maybe this team would win more games.
“But if we don’t change certain things, we are not going to win titles whether we change to 4-3-3 or 4-4-2.
“And that is my point with the players – not with you, I don’t want to change your mind – but my players. I guarantee you they are listening to you. All those opinions, they are putting that inside because we are not winning games.
“And they have to believe in me because I watch more [Man Utd] games than you guys combined.”
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