The Man Utd boss sat down with young defender Leny Yoro in the presser ahead of what is a pretty much must win game for his team against FCSB should they want to qualify directly into the Europa League round of 16.
Before he could talk about a cetain player (whom you all know who I'm talking about), the manager gave a sigh before being asked about that player, which was the first question of this presser.
"The situation is the same for every player. My sentence was that I wouldn't put any player that doesn't give the maximum. I didn’t say only Marcus Rashford. We are a better team with him, that's clear, but until the right moment I won't change my mind", the manager on Marcus Rashford.
Amorim also says that "it's not personal" with Rashford and that if he were to change, "then we are more than happy to have Rashford." However, standards need to be set.
He says that it's always important to win when asked about wanting to get the 3 points against FCSB and reiterated that victory tonight will mean that United won't have to play the playoffs to try to reach the round of 16. This will give him the chance to have a couple of weeks of full training which he believes "will be really important."
Despite winning being the most important factor for tonight, the Portuguese wants to see an improvement in his team's performances.
On FCSB, Amorim knows that they are a strong team that can score goals from set-pieces and have the ability to win games without much possession. "It's [FCSB] a really smart team and we have to perform well to win the game."
Leny Yoro says that having played a back three in the past it was easier for him to adapt his game to Amorim's system despite playing in a back four at Lille.
While he had much interest in the summer, Yoro ended up choosing United explaining that the history, size and that he knew from the start that United was the club for him were reasons why he chose Old Trafford over others. "I think for me it was a good choice."
Amorim says that the focus is "to work with the players that we have" even though the January transfer window is open in which all United have done is sign an academy player and sent Antony out on loan. No incomings.
He also believes that they can improve as a team "if we have time to train" something else that he regularly mentions. What was the "biggest problem" for him was the lack of training as starting in the middle of the season made things difficult in that aspect.
The club hired track and field coach Harry Marra and while this wasn't an appointment by Amorim, he says that United "are always trying to bring in experienced people to help with the staff."
Amorim says that the January transfer window is always a difficult time to do business and that they don't want to make the mistakes from the past with understanding the situation of the club being a key factor to this.
Final Thoughts
Amorim has been consistent about this treatment of Rashford which will be the same for ALL players should they not show the attitude he likes. This is the first time he's name-checked Rashford in any of his recent quotes.
We are a better team with a prime Rashford but that is precisely what he's not at the moment. We actually play with 10 men when he's in the side so I don't disagree with the manager on that one.
While he may say it's not personal, it kinda looks like it even more so with reports coming out that the two don't speak directly to each other. Casemiro is in pretty much the same boat yet he is at least in the matchday squad which Rashford has been ommitted from again.
Maybe it isn't personal but it does look like he has handpicked Rashford as his target to display his stamp of authority in that if anyone gets out of line, you're out of my team.
A standard does need to be set because the quality and attitude of players, not just Rashford, over the years, has not been at the level required at United. They often appear to do the bare minimum and still play the next game. It's about time a manager came in and took no shit.
However, during this presser, Fabrizio Romano has said that the relationship between Amorim and Rashford is "completely broken" - utdreport.
Well that's that then, isn't it? I don't see Rashford coming back into the side whilst Amorim is in charge.
He really does seem quite fed up with these Rashford questions and who could blame him? Regardless of how many times he says the same things and looks frustrated, they still ask him about a player that let's be honest, has shown nothing to suggest he is good enough to play for United over the last 18 months let alone in Amorim's 3 months in charge.
We already know the ramifications of tonight. All results are possible and all have different stipulations depending on other results. We just have to win regardless of the performance at least for tonight.
I don't know much about FCSB but for them to be 8th, above the likes of Galatasaray and Rangers, and be just 1 point behind us, it shows that they have some quality in their side.
If Amorim is saying they can win games without a lot of the ball, it tells me that we should expect a low block and counter attacking football from our opponents. The use of set-pieces will also be key for them and we know how weak we are from those. Trying to breakdown a low block is also something that we don't do too well.
This isn't going to easy.
It must not have been easy for Yoro to come to United. A young lad, coming into a struggling club, a big injury, two managers, two systems but to be fair to him, in most of his minutes, he hasn't looked out of place at all. He's come in and while he's had some shaky moments, in the main, I think everyone is happy with him.
The system doesn't look to be affecting him as well although we didn't see him play for Erik ten Hag and his back four as he was sacked before Yoro returned from injury, but he's been like a duck to water, very seamless once he finally got onto the pitch for United. The attributes he possesses are also ones that are required of a modern defender as Yoro is quite quick, has a great tackle, is good in the air and looks relatively comfortable on the ball.
I don't think there's been any problems with him at all.
Saying that United was the club for him just makes me like him even more.
This window has been poor, let's be honest. We've done nowhere near enough business, no money has come in, no players who need to leave permanently have gone with only Antony moving to Real Betis on loan being the 'highlight' of the window.
There are many players that needed to be moved on and several that needed to come in and while we have had the 'Here we go' for Patrick Dorgu, it's not official nor is one left-back/left wing-back enough.
The situation of the club is obviously dire thanks to the Glazers over the years and while INEOS have made a hell of a lot of unpopular decisions (as Sir Jim was made aware of by fans after the Fulham win), the majority of the club's financial issues is on the American owners. However, this doesn't mean that INEOS are let off the hook as we thought we'd be seeing much better from them in terms of business.
This is no different to what we've had in the past and if Garnacho goes, they will become more unpopular. That is one deal they simply cannot let happen even if it does help the club financially as selling an academy player on the cheap (£60m is not enough for a plyaer like him) to a potential rival (Chelsea) is not what we're all about.
It goes against who we are as a football club.
Background Image: Marcus Rashford with a smile on his face in Man Utd first team training despite not having played since December 12th | Creator: Carl Recine | Credit: Getty Images via SuperSport