Ruben Amorim admits the lack of confidence is palpable among his crisis-torn Manchester United players – and there is no easy way out.
After just 38 days, with just seven points and nine goals in his first eight Premier League games, the Portuguese's tenure as Old Trafford boss is already on the rocks. Instead of fighting for a place in the Champions League, they are nervously looking over their shoulders for fear of being dragged into an unthinkable relegation battle.
The poor 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle, which saw the shabby Red Devils finish the year in 14th place, was the low point. Or at least they hope so. Having witnessed them become the first United team to lose three consecutive home games since 1979, it is no surprise that confidence is at an all-time low.
Amorim admitted: “Yes, and you can feel it every day. That is of course a bad thing. But it's good that they feel that way. We must understand that we are in a very difficult moment.
“It is sometimes very difficult for them to suffer these losses on the field. But we have to continue. There is no other way. We have to work hard and prepare for the next matches.”
That comes in the form of Sunday's difficult trip to flying leaders Liverpool. The last thing a party in this miserable position needs. However, Amorim insists he will not sacrifice his favored three-man defense despite them leaking a whopping 18 goals in December alone.
The ex-Sporting boss will not return to the four-man backline of his predecessor Erik ten Hag – who was ultimately sacked for his failures. Amorim said: “If I completely change the system, I don't know if I will be closer to victory. If I do that and keep losing, it's even worse.
“I see the game in a different way. It doesn't matter whether there are three, five or four of you. If you know the basics and can train that idea, this is how I see the game. If I'm sure that changing everything will get us close to winning games, I will do it.
“When you change coaches, especially at these types of clubs, it is because they are not winning and playing specifically in the system they were bought for. So at that point, with the idea of working two years in preparation, they were losing. So I'm going to change for that system that I don't believe in, to change things to win games? There's no point. So I have to learn what I know. That's my focus. And I believe in that.”
But United's irritating habit of scoring early goals – Newcastle's Alexander Isak scored with a free header after just three minutes – continues to make life even more difficult. On what will end the slump, Amorim admitted: “It's really hard for everyone – and you feel it on the pitch.
“We have shown some improvements in the first games, especially against [Manchester] City and Tottenham. Even at Arsenal the first moment, but we lose that because of the lack of training and the lack of belief after so many losses.”
Amorim claims he can achieve the necessary improvements through extra work on the training pitch. But then comes Anfield…
He admitted: “Yes, it's a big game again. But we will use every minute of training to prepare for that match and give some information, and work on our way of playing, to try to improve our team. That's the only thing.”
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