A furious Ruben Amorim caused damage to a big screen television in Manchester United’s dressing room following their abysmal 3-1 defeat by Brighton last weekend.
United fell to their sixth defeat in 12 Premier League home games at Old Trafford on Sunday, marking the seventh overall loss of Amorim’s so far underwhelming reign. That’s despite the him only taking charge in November.
Amorim, 39, reportedly lost his temper during a critique of his players’ dire performance, later labelling them ‘maybe the worst team in United’s history’ during his post-match press conference. The ex-Sporting Lisbon boss, as first reported by The Athletic, vented his anger towards his players, in a marked change from his usual approach of staying silent until the next day.
It’s been claimed by the publication that the TV, which used for tactics before kick-off and at half-time, will need to be fixed – and quickly. It’s understood, however, that the repairs will be completed in time for the Red Devils’ Europa League clash with Rangers at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Amorim’s fury was particularly striking to those inside the dressing room because the Portuguese coach usually doesn’t say a word immediately after matches. United’s players have experienced angry managers before but the 39-year-old’s reaction to the loss stood out.
“In [the past] 10 games in Premier League, we won two,” Amorim told reporters following his alleged rant. “Imagine what this is for a fan of Manchester United. Imagine what this is for me. We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach. I have full knowledge of that.
“We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United. I know you [the media] want headlines but I am saying that because we have to acknowledge that and to change that. Here you go: your headlines.”
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was stunned by Amorim’s comments, describing them as ‘bizarre and ridiculous’. “It was one of the most bizarre and ridiculous things I’ve ever heard a manager say,” Carragher said on Monday Night Football. “Why you would make a comment like that?
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“That’s the type of comment a pundit would make, someone in my position, and you’d have to defend that. I don’t know what he gains from that, what the benefit is. “We all know it’s a poor Man United team. They’d lost another game at home to Brighton, they’d done that in the last couple of years anyway.
“We know it’s a tough season, we know it’s a poor team. He has just loosened it up. That will be a quote that follows him for the rest of the season. “He said to the journalists there, ‘I’ll give you your headline’. Why you would like to do that as a manager, I’ll never know.”
United’s players are still struggling to get to grips with Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation, a system which he’s married to after successfully using it with former clubs Braga and Lisbon. Their two best performances came earlier this month, drawing with both Liverpool and Arsenal – the latter of whom they beat on penalties – away from home when they notably surrendered possession.
“I knew it was going to be hard to put in a completely new idea in the moment,” Amorim explained. “But when you lose games, you don’t have that luck to win three games in a row, it’s becoming really hard. That’s why I’m telling [you] we are going to suffer because I’m going to continue to do the same.
“To help my players is to give them the tools to play this way, but, without training, it is really hard. Then, without training and losing games. You could feel it in the end of the game, everybody was changing position, and that is something I will not see again. We can lose, but we will not change position.
“I just want to help my players. If I want to show to the media and the fans, I [would] put two strikers [on the pitch], I didn’t put two strikers [on] because it is going to be more difficult for them to understand the way we play. I’m just here to try to help my players, but we need to understand that we are breaking all the bad records. It’s a bad thing we need to change.”
United will look to continue their perfect record under Amorim in Europe when they host Rangers. The Red Devils drew their first three games before claiming one victory under interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, putting them on 12 points after six games and on course to qualify for the knockouts without needing to go through the play-offs.
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