'Worst in history': Man United boss Ruben Amorim slammed for swipe at team
Updated . First published at
Ruben Amorim delivered a withering assessment of his Manchester United team after its latest loss, admitting it might be the “worst” side in the club's storied history.
United fell to a 10th Premier League defeat of the season on Monday, losing 3-1 to Brighton at Old Trafford.
“We are being the worst, maybe, in the history of Manchester United,” the United coach said.
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Bruno Fernandes of and Mason Mount of Manchester United look dejected. Getty
“I am saying that because we have to acknowledge and change that.”
The 20-time English champion is 13th in the standings and closer to the relegation zone than Champions League qualification.
Amorim has lost seven of his 15 games in charge since succeeding former manager Erik ten Hag in November.
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Ruben Amorim during the loss to Brighton. CameraSport via Getty Images
Six defeats from the first 12 home league games of the season is United’s worst run since 1893-94, according to the Premier League’s statistician Opta.
“We've got all the bad records as losing games at home, losing games in the Premier League, so we are really underperforming. And we need to to win games, that’s all.”
Ten Hag won two domestic cups in under three years at United, but in October he paid the price for the club's worst start to a season, with the team in 14th place and having lost four of its opening nine league games.
That was on the back of United's worst league campaign in 34 years last term when it finished in eighth place.
Amorim was hired after leading Sporting Lisbon to two Portuguese league titles and was expected to revive the club's fortunes.
"Our players are really nervous in actions," Amorim said.
"When you go on the pitch you remember the last games here.
"If I feel it, the players feel it a lot. The only way is to continue to do the same and to win games, that's the only way to fix this."
Amorim's signing has done little to inspire the team as the on-field decline has continued and aside from a penalty shootout victory against Arsenal in the FA Cup, United has only won one of its last eight games in all competitions.
The team has not improved under Amorim. Getty
“Imagine what is this for a fan of Manchester United. Imagine what is this for me,” Amorim said. "So we we are getting a new, a new coach that is losing more than the last coach. I have full knowledge of that."
Amorim's candid take on the team's current crop of players was an astonishing move according to Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.
The former Reds defender labelled the 39-year-old coach's comments "bizarre".
"It was one of the most bizarre and ridiculous things I've heard a manager say," Carragher said.
"That's the type of comment a pundit would make... I don't know what he gains from it and what the benefit is. That will be a quote that will follow him for the remainder of the season.
"I don't have much sympathy for the players in that Man United dressing room. They've been a joke for a few years now.
"But what I would say is from the manager's point of view, how can he go into the dressing room for the rest of the season and continually try and build them up and give them belief if he's said they are the worst team in Man United history.
"At no point do I see what he was going to gain from that."
Amorim has implemented a wingback system since taking over at United, which players appear to have struggled to adapt to. But the Portuguese said he would persist with those tactics.
“I’m not going to change no matter what, and I know we can succeed. But we need to survive this moment because I’m not naive and I know that we need to survive now," he said.
Yet Former England striker Alan Shearer believes Amorim may have to stray from his principles, saying Man United are worse under Amorim than they were under Ten Hag.
"They're actually worse now than they were under Ten Hag, because of what this manager wants to do with this system. The way he wants to play, the players just can't do it," Shearer said on the Rest is Football podcast.
"You sort of get and understand why he is saying that, to buy himself time. It's so unusual that you've got one of, if not, the biggest club in the world and the manager is coming out and saying 'this is the worst side in their history' because of where they are and some of their performances.
"Last week and the week before, we were saying how well they performed at Arsenal and how well they performed at Liverpool. Yet, a week later, he is coming out and saying they are the worst in their history, it's incredible.
"It's a really tough one to understand because he's got a bit of a free pass, because of how bad it has been there."
