Ruben Amorim admits there is a danger of him being sacked if he fails to halt Manchester United’s dramatic slump.
Amorim has lost half of his 10 games and seen United drop to 14th place in the Premier League table since the club paid Sporting Lisbon £9.2million to appoint him as their head coach.
After United axed sporting director Dan Ashworth just 159 days into the job – and Sporting fired Amorim’s replacement Joao Pereira on Christmas Day – the 39-year-old admitted that he isn’t bulletproof either.
‘I know the business that I'm in,’ said Amorim. ‘The manager of Manchester United can never, no matter what, be comfortable.
‘I know that if we don't win, regardless, if they pay the buyout or not, I know that every manager is in danger. I like that because that is the job, so I understand the question.
‘You can argue that I have been here one month and I’ve had four training (sessions), but we are not winning. That is the reality and I'm quite comfortable with that.’
Amorim would have preferred to move to Old Trafford next summer, but was given a ‘now or never’ ultimatum by United who paid Sporting an extra £900,000 on top of his £8.3m buyout clause to install him in mid-season.
The United boss knew it would be tough to get his ideas across in such a short space of time, but didn’t expect to lose so many games.
‘There’s no point talking about that or thinking about that. I’m here and have to focus on the job,’ he added.
‘It’s part of football to have these difficult moments. I already knew that was going to be tough.
'You expect to win more games, to have players with more confidence to sell the idea and to work and improve things. At this moment it's really hard.
‘We have to survive to have time and then to improve the team.’
United’s go into Monday’s clash with in-form Newcastle at Old Trafford on the back of three straight defeats.
They will be without captain Bruno Fernandes after he was sent off in the 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Boxing Day and Manuel Ugarte who picked up his fifth booking of the season at Molineux.
Amorim has not ruled out giving the armband to Harry Maguire who was stripped of the captaincy by his predecessor Erik ten Hag.
‘He will have to wait until the game,’ said Amorim. ‘He works really well. He's focused on the job, not what people say. He has no (doesn’t make) excuses, even if he had some tough moments.
‘I think in that department he is an example, so he is there to play to help the team. He's trying to do that.’
Nosacnouy
14
Man UTD problem is not the coach...it's the caliber of players..