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Ruben Amorim says Manchester United’s first priority is to keep the ball better ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Ipswich Town in East Anglia.
Speaking in his first press conference as head coach of United, the 39 year old said “If you want to speak about the way we play, we lose the ball too often, so we need to keep the ball better.
“We need to be better running back and I think that’s clear for everybody [smiles]. We have to be very good in the small details, we have to improve on that.”
Speaking about his first impressions of the club, he said:
“It’s bigger [than I imagined]. There’s a lot of departments which is different to Sporting. It is a global club with so much to do, not just coaching the team. I have a lot of help and I am very happy and very comfortable. I feel at home.
“I am a dreamer and I believe in myself. I believe in the club and we have the same idea and same mindset.
“I think we have room to improve and I want to try new things.
“We have ideas, it’s not revolution it’s evolution in the way we want to change, we are building a new one. I’m a different guy.”
Asked about the influence José Mourinho has had on him, Amorim replied:
“Not just me but all the Portuguese coaches. He showed us that we can be the best in the world. I am different from Mourinho. I am a different person. At that time [when he came to Chelsea] you looked at him and thought he could win everything.
“Football is different but I am a young guy, I try to understand my players and if you remember the young guys at Chelsea were Lampard etc.
“Nowadays it is much different but I believe I am the right guy at the right moment.
“I really don’t know the biggest challenge, I will find out.”
“We have to improve as a club. We have to acknowledge that we need time. We will try to do it in the Ineos way, in my way.”
“Call me naive. But I truly believe I am the right guy in the right moment. I could be wrong but the world still will turn, the sun will rise again, I don’t worry about that. I truly believe I’m the right guy for this job.”
Amorim was questioned about how players will react to playing in new positions.
“They want to play. In the future we will see but you have to train with them to see if they can cope with different positions.
“Everybody wants to play and are open to change some positions.”
“”When you don’t win games you start to get suspicious of the way of playing.
“You start feeling it in the players when they walk to the warm up. You can feel if they are confident or not. That is normal.
“I will help them and it will take time but they are ready to cope with the demands of games in the Premier League.”
On the issue of whether he will adapt his way of playing to suit the players at his disposal, Amorim was very clear.
“As a coach you have to choose one way or another. I choose always 100% our way.
“If they feel like since first day that I believe so much in our way of playing, they will believe too.
“It is one way and we are going to do it. We may need to adapt some players who were bought to play a different system but on Sunday you will see the starting XI and you will feel a lot of change in the positioning and the way they receive the ball.”
Ruben Amorim arrives #mufc pic.twitter.com/ov7OWaLroY
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) November 22, 2024
Further quotes from the embargoed section of the presser will be covered here from 10.30pm tomorrow.