Ruben Amorim admitted frustration got the better of him when he described his Manchester United side as perhaps the worst in the club’s history in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat by Brighton.
Amorim knew he was making headlines when he said during his post-match press conference at Old Trafford that his side are “the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United”, having just watched them suffer a sixth home defeat of the season to remain stuck in 13th in the Premier League.
The 39-year-old’s frustration was such that he reportedly broke a television in the home dressing room.
“So I understand I gave you that headline and I’m frustrated sometimes and sometimes I should not say that in those 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. The response was quite normal because I’m really blunt with my players.”
He later added: “Sometimes you are a young guy and you do mistakes and then you improve. I don’t promise to you I will not do it again, I don’t know, I try to improve.”
Amorim has been brutally honest about the size of the challenge he faces at United since he first arrived. He said early in his tenure that a “storm will come” and, as the losses started mounting up, said his players were “too anxious and too afraid to play football”.
“If you want I can be delusional and say different things,” he said. “I say it as I see it. I said it to the players and I said it to you – I think it’s a good thing to be really honest.”
Maguire said he had no complaints regarding his manager’s approach, and said it was on the squad to take responsibility for United’s situation.
There is no shortage of experience or calibre in the United squad, but that is not showing in a team struggling to adapt to Amorim’s system.
There was a sense they were making progress after a 2-2 draw away to Liverpool and the FA Cup penalty shootout win away to Arsenal, but that has largely disappeared after a poor performance at home to Southampton – rescued by Amad Diallo’s late hat-trick – before the loss to Brighton.
“But at the moment we we’re not playing well enough as a team and the league table shows it. So I can only keep going on about it. We’ve got to take responsibility on as players.”
But notably, when discussing why United have conceded the first goal so often at home, the 31-year-old said: “You’ve got to go into the game and be focused and mentally ready to go and win a football match.
“Football matches are sometimes defined on small margins and at the moment we’re not getting those small margins because we’re not mentally focused enough to to make sure that they go out our way.”
