Amorim reveals why he DREADED going to Old Trafford and says managing Man Utd was like ‘fighting with hands by my side’

RUBEN AMORIM has revealed he DREADED the match day drive to Old Trafford last season – because he KNEW Manchester United were going to lose.

In a remarkable and candid admission of the depths of his frustration, the Portuguese explained how his only thought in the traumatic final months of last season was to “survive” the lowest point of his career until he could bring the summer of change the club needed.

Asked how he felt in the aftermath of that string of losses as United plunged towards the bottom of the table, Amorim said: “To tell you the truth, it wasn’t how I returned to my house after the games. 

“It was how I left to go to the games – because I knew that we would struggle.

“I could feel it before the games. 

“So that was the hardest part, the most difficult part, to go to the games and know that we were not going to be competitive, not how we should be. That was the hardest part. 

“When I returned home, I just looked to my family and tried to think in different things. But I was really frustrated.”

Amorim even hinted during those problems that he might walk away from the job, although he now says that would have been “an ego thing”.

However, he conceded: “There were some moments last year that were really hard on me. I felt I just needed to survive to the end.

“I felt I was disappointing all these people. 

“In football, when you lose so many games, it’s hard on everybody to believe in one idea and all the changes. So there were some moments when I was really, really frustrated.

“Because everything I needed to do, I needed to do with a new start, with more time, with some changes that I could not do then.

“It wasn’t the case of not knowing what to do to change the club but my goal in that moment, three months from the end of the season, was trying to win the Europa League. 

“We struggled a lot, trying to save players, playing them just 60 minutes. 

“You cannot do that at Manchester United. You cannot think like that. 

“It was why I was so frustrated, because I couldn’t do anything, I acknowledged that, so I had to wait. 

“And to wait, and being manager of Manchester United, is like going to a fight with my hands down by my sides.“

A summer later, and Amorim looks and sounds like a different sort of fighter. One ready for the battle ahead.

His decision to isolate the “Bomb Squad” of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho and Tyrrell Malacia may have looked brutal but appears to have the backing of the players who flew with him for the US leg of their pre-season campaign.

The most difficult part, to go to the games and know that we were not going to be competitive, not how we should be. That was the hardest part.”

Ruben Amorim

Amorim, too, has no regrets. In his eyes, unquestionably, he did what was needed – for the good of the entire club.

He added: “When you are losing, you have to change the culture, the standards.

“I didn’t feel that last season and that is more of a club thing than a manager thing.

“Of course, the manager is an important piece. Because if the manager doesn’t want that, it’s really hard. 

“The manager cannot do that by himself but I feel that we are more organised nowadays, everybody knows their places. 

“This is my job and everyone knows that. That looks like a small thing, but it’s a big thing. 

“There are some things that I don’t know. So I need to have top people around me to help me to change the culture. 

“I have the authority. It’s my job. The club wants that. But it’s bigger than that. I need all the club in the same direction.

“We’ve improved everything – the medical department, the nutrition, what we eat, the way we behave on tour, on the pitch. The rules. 

“Everything is important. I know that they are not kids and I don’t treat the players like kids. But I think these small rules can help a group to be strong.”

Even though United have spent big, with £130m on Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, with potentially another £70m-plus to land Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, that has been left in the shade bu the business this year of the Champions League quartet of Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea.

The fear would be that, if anything, the gap could widen, but Amorim pointed out: “If we were in a different moment, I would be more concerned about that. 

“But we have such big issues here that I’m not thinking that way. I’m just focused on what we need to improve here. 

“I’m really happy with the players we’ve brought in. They’re proven in the Premier League, the physical aspect and I’m really happy with their character. 

“We need to be a little bit more emotional in this team. With that emotion, we will make more sacrifices, have more pace, more energy. The competition is going to help. 

“It’s a perfect year to do that, without European competition.

“We can put in the standards, so we’re really ready to go the next season, with the culture already here, so we can play, play, play. 

“And I can guarantee you, if you bring any Premier League manager here, they would say, ‘Bryan Mbeumo, thank you; Matheus Cunha, thank you’.

“This is a club thing. Yes, the manager is really important, but all this idea of the culture, how we want to buy players, what kind of players we want, is a club thing. 

“In the meetings with Bryan, with Cunha, we said ‘don’t go to a club because of the manager.

“Go because of the idea of the club’. And they are here because of the idea of the club.”