Amorim hits back at Dyche's claim he'd win more games at the club playing 4-4-2

Ruben Amorim insists he hasn’t taken criticism from Sean Dyche personally because the new Nottingham Forest boss was working as a pundit at the time.

Dyche, who returned to management at the City Ground earlier this month, claimed on two podcasts last summer that he would win more games than Amorim at Manchester United playing a 4-4-2 system, opposed to the Portuguese’s 3-4-2-1.

As the two men go head to head on Saturday, Amorim gave Dyche the benefit of the doubt, saying: ‘First of all, maybe it's true if we play 4-4-2 we would win more games, but I always said that I have a way of playing that is going to take a while. In the future it's going to be better. So we don't know that.

‘Then I can look at Sean Dyche as a manager and then as a pundit. If you are a pundit and you don't say very strong things, I don't want to watch you! I'm the same. So I can understand that it's a completely different job. I know that Sean Dyche is really smart and he knows how to play the game.

‘And he also understands that one thing is when we are seeing the game and talking about the game, the other thing is to coach a team. So I understand that, I have nothing to say, I just want to win the next game.’

On Dyche’s first two games in charge, Amorim added: ‘I watched against Porto, I watched against Bournemouth, the style of play is similar with different characteristics.

‘So we need to be prepared for a different game against Brighton. We had space to play and we are not going to have that space. You need to understand that we are not being the same team away and at home, so we need to improve the way we control the environment.

‘Every tackle is a big moment for the opponent's fans, so we need to play better away. We are prepared for a very tough match.’

Meanwhile, Amorim admitted that United are going to ‘suffer’ when Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo go to the African Cup of Nations in December and January, but believes it will present an opportunity to some of his fringe players.

‘We will have time to suffer,’ he said. ‘We are going to struggle a little bit, but we already knew it's going to be an opportunity. When I watch the training, there are players that should be playing, but it's hard with one game to take some players from the team, because they are doing well also during the training in games. So other players are going to have the opportunity to help us.

‘They are understanding the way we want to play, so if we are improving on that, the change of characteristics is not going to change the idea or the momentum of the team. But let's use Amad and Bryan in these games and we will see in general.’