Ruben Amorim has ordered his Manchester United stars to run like ‘mad dogs’ if they want to be Premier League title contenders again.
Amorim admitted before Saturday’s clash with Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford that United are ‘a massive club but not a massive team’ as he tries to manage the levels of expectation around his new job as head coach.
The 39-year-old is adamant that his players will have to run harder and with more intensity if he is to have a chance of taking United back to the pinnacle of English football.
‘If we want to win the Premier League, we have to run like mad dogs. If not, we aren’t going to,’ he admitted.
‘Even with the best starting XI on the planet, without running they will not win nothing, that is very clear. It’s impossible to win the Premier League without a team like that.
‘I think the way we sprint back, the way we sprint forward, the way we fight, we have to be very clear with the team, this is the first point we have to address.
‘They’re making an effort and there’s a lot of room to improve. Changing that you can say is simple because it’s just running, but it’s something in the head of the players.
‘The problem to be fit enough is if they can cope with that. If they are used to it in training, they will do that in games. They’re professional athletes and they will improve in that aspect and then you have something.’
United have dropped to 13th place in the table after Amorim’s first defeat at Arsenal in midweek, and the Portuguese must try to balance the reality of his situation with the expectations of managing one of the world’s biggest clubs.
He added: ‘We’re a massive club but we’re not a massive team, and we know it so it is no problem to say it. We want to improve but we are in a different moment to Arsenal. But you could feel it during the game, I think we have to believe more.
‘This club has glories in the past. Our players have to understand that it’s a very difficult position. We’re not one of the best teams in the league, and we have to say and think that clearly, but in the past our club is maybe the best one in the league.’