The 39-year-old delivered another top presser ahead of match 21 as the Devils face the Saints at Old Trafford. The first league action in over a week and after the heroic victory on Sunday, reality bites as United sit in 14th in the table. Amorim will be looking to improve that starting with Southampton.
On tomorrow's opponents, the United boss said that he will learn more from his players against the Saints than he did against Liverpool and Arsenal as there was no expectation in those two tough away games.
"This next game will teach me more about my players than the last two. There is no expectation in the last two games."
The recent FA Cup victory over Arsenal was a match where Amorim felt that his side "waited for the opportunity" to strike the Gunners but is something that he knows cannot be done in the future as the fans will expect more from his players.
Once more, he reiterated that there was no expectations in the last two games but that with Southampton, United will be facing the pressure considering they are favorites for this encounter.
Amorim is "concerned" as United didn't achieve consistency in recent matches as both results and performances were up and down. However, he wants his side to face Southampton in the same manner as they did Liverpool and Arsenal.
"Not more, not less."
The manager does add that while there is concern and pressure, he himself doesn't feel that pressure at the moment because "in the last years we didn't win the league" and that at a club like United, when you don't win the league one year, "you must win it the next."
The Portuguese mentions that the club needs to bring in that pressure of having to win titles because it's not a pressure that he feels at the moment.
"We need to win titles and games in this moment."
Of course, the boss was asked about Rashford to which he replied that he just wants to win tomorrow's match. That is his focus. As always with his answers to questions on whether Rashford will be selected or not, Amorim said that he will pick the best team to win the game.
Amorim also gave a shoutout to youngster Toby Collyer as the manager said that the player "is training really well" and mentions how he has a lot of pace and displays a willingness to learn. "So it's one more option for tomorrow."
Quotes via The United Stand.
Final Thoughts
I am LOVING these interviews of Ruben Amorim's! Not that I love the number of them he's done/doing because it has been too much but the answers he gives to questions.
Man has played the game 👍.
That first answer was pure sauce 👌.
To say that the next game (Southampton - kick off 20:00 GMT) will teach him more about his players than the two hardest games of the season, what a reply. Honestly, what a reply.
He's absolutely spot on and to be honest, I do believe a lot of people will be thinking this because I don't think there were many that thought we could get two positive results back-to-back at LFC and Arsenal. There was no expectation as the manager said.
This meant that the pressure was off and the players could play with a bit of freedom.
Facing the worst team in the league at home is a game that not only will most be expecting a win, but a very convincing one at that.
This is where the pressure comes in. When there is an expectation, that is when these players can falter. We beat City at the Emptihad not so long ago but proceeded to lose the next four on the bounce and while they weren't easy games, they were certainly easier than City away.
The following two was the draw at Anfield and shootout win with 10 men at The Emirates.
How does that happen?
It's in these 'easier' games where we seem to be undone.
This quote is also a message to the players that while those two previous games were great, this is another game to show me whether you belong here or not. These are the games where we need to show our steel and whether we can perform to the standard set at Anfield or revert to what we saw before that match.
Amorim saying that he wants the same approach and mindset for tomorrow implies further that he expects his players to perform at a high level.
Consistency is key.
I like the fact that he wants that pressure put onto everyone at United. He wants to see whether they are able to handle it especially the players because we know how weak they can be mentally. The manager has often spoke about how important mindset is and I think he's trying to build a strong mentality first before anything else.
We saw that in the last two matches but it was almost as if we needed it given our opponents and circumstances. At home to Southampton, it's a walk in the park, right?
I also like how he says that United as a club need to feel the pressure in that the current situation we're in as a club is not good enough and doesn't appear to worry anyone. Winning titles is what we were used to for so long and like he says, you don't win it one season, you better win it the next.
That was the standard and anything less was considered a failure.
'Second is first loser' as we all know.
Now, we don't even finish second. Hell, at the moment, getting into the top half seems to be too much.
Amorim, in a way, is saying that the standard has dropped to a point where where we are at the moment may not be acceptable but nobody is losing their shit over it.
We're 14th!
14th!
And now that he mentions it, it really doesn't look like anyone is doing anything to improve that.
Maybe indirectly as well, he's saying that the only way to get back to the top is to get better players and remove some of the crap ones we have.
Halfway through the January transfer window though, and United have done NOTHING! No sales, no incomings. I'm sure the manager is as upset about this as we are.
Amorim can only do so much with the current squad too. Hojlund and Zirkzee up front aren't doing the business and we need a striker; if Ugarte is out, we have no real replacement and he is so important to our team; and of course, the elephant in the room of not having a LB/LCB. Malacia is clearly not a player that Amorim rates too highly as by now, I do think he would've used him more.
He is the only senior left-back in the squad.
Again, the club have done no business.
Listening to his interviews and seeing what he's trying to do on the field and also how it went for him at Sporting as in Portugal, he struggled in his first season as well and needed to remove a lot of players too, so the similarities are there.
But what happened after that first year was that the club backed him and he managed to win the league. That may not happen in the PL next season but what's for sure is that if the club don't back him, he definitely won't win the league.
Background Image: Ruben Amorim | Creator: James Gill - Danehouse | Credit: Getty Images via SuperSport