Ruben Amorim Regrets Branding His Manchester United Side The Worst In History

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has admitted he was wrong to call his squad of players “maybe the worst in the history of Manchester United.”

Amorim had made the surprising statement in the aftermath of United’s 3-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford on Sunday, which left his side slumped in 13^th position in the Premier League table.

“I was talking more for myself than from my players, because you have to find out a coach that starts a job and loses seven games in the first 10,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “So it’s more for me, I was talking more about me than the players.”

“I also talked in the same response about I was not helping my players. And if you look around, every time I speak, and I speak a lot, every time you push about the players are not good enough, I never put the spot on my players. So I understand, I gave you that headline.”

“And I’m frustrated sometimes. And sometimes I should not say that in that terms, but it is what it is. And that’s it.”

“Sometimes it’s really hard to hide the frustration in some moments. But the good thing is that I said the same things in a different way in the dressing room five minutes before. So the response was quite normal, because I’m really blunt with my players.”

Amorim’s obvious frustration was understandable as United have now lost six of their 12 Premier League home games this season, and four of their last five under him.

“I’m a young guy and sometimes I make a mistake,” he said. “That’s why I don’t talk after the game. This game, I needed to talk and maybe it was a mistake and then I get more nervous and go to the press conference really nervous and say things I shouldn’t say, that’s it. I don’t promise you I won’t do it again, but I will try to improve.”

“Was it the was the best point to do it after that loss? Maybe not, but it is what it is. I’m like that all the time. I’m not taking responsibility from the players, I am saying, I am really, really direct in things. I’m saying in this moment we are performing really bad and our results are really bad in the moment.”

“I was frustrated. If you say it’s good for the players to see the coach frustrated, maybe not. But I’m saying the obvious. If you want, I can be delusional and say different things.”

“What I knew since the first day when I arrived and I see it, I understood changing things. We are going to suffer, it is really clear. It’s getting really hard and you guys are here for a long time. You get loss after loss, it’s really hard for everybody.”

United return to action on Thursday when they host Rangers at Old Trafford in the Europa League. “We expect a tough match, a lot of physicality during the game,” Amorim said. “I know that some important players from Rangers will not play and we have to know the new players to understand the way that they play.”

“They play with the full-backs really high on the pitch and they have talent to score in the final third. It is one more difficult game but it is important for us because we want to keep in the play-offs and we need to have that extra time to train.”

As United approach the end of the January transfer window, Amorim did not want to engage with a question about whether United would welcome any new signings.

“I do not want to talk about that, especially before a game. Our focus is that our players are here to play and we need to improve, to win games, to have that feeling of winning is important for us, so let’s focus on that.”