Ruben Amorim claims it would have been ‘the end’ for him as Manchester United’s head coach if he had compromised on his football philosophy during the first year in charge at Old Trafford.
Having said in September that even the Pope couldn’t persuade him to change formation, Amorim has switched to a back-four at times in recent games and started the Boxing Day win over Newcastle with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The United boss insisted that he couldn’t be more flexible and bow to pressure from pundits and the media before proving that his 3-4-2-1 system worked because he would have lost credibility with the players.
‘When you talk about changing the system all the time, I cannot change because the players will understand that I'm changing because of you – and I think that is the end for the manager,’ said Amorim.
‘So when we are playing well in our system, that is the moment to change if it's the better thing to win the next game.
‘I'm just trying to improve. In all the mistakes that I did last season, I am trying to learn a little bit a thing to change things.
‘First of all, it's a process. When I came here in last season, I understood that maybe I don't have the players to play well in that system, but it was the beginning of the process. We are trying to build an identity.
‘Today is a different moment. We don't have a lot of players and we need to adapt, but they already know and understand why we are changing. It is not because of the pressure of you guys, or of the fans, it's because now we understand the way we want to play and the principles are the same.
‘We can change the system and I think we are going to become a better team because when the all the players return, we are not going to play all the time with three defenders. We are going to improve.’
United could be without eight players against Wolves at Old Trafford on Tuesday night with Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Matthijs De Ligt and Harry Maguire ruled out, Mason Mount doubtful, and Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The substitutes’ bench for the Boxing Day win over Newcastle included Jack and Tyler Fletcher, Shea Lacey, Tyler Fredricson and Bendito Mantato.
United are expected to strengthen in the January transfer window, although Amorim maintains the club will not panic buy and only consider bringing forward deals that were planned for the summer.
United have been in contention to buy Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth for £65million, but it appears as though Manchester City are winning the race for the Ghana international.
Amorim also needs to strengthen his midfield over the next few months and is in discussions with director of football Jason Wilcox and the Old Trafford hierarchy over targets. The 40-year-old accepts the club cannot give him everything he wants in case there is a change of manager.
‘Sometimes I have one idea, Jason and the board has another idea,’ he said. ‘Every decision we make, we need to reach a common ground.
‘That is really important because you don't need to make everything for the manager because the manager can change, and you need to change everything.
‘But you also need to understand that the manager understands the way of playing. If you don't reach common ground the player would not come, so we just try to do that. We try to make all the assessments of how they live, how they train, the characteristics.’
On United’s second meeting with bottom-of-the-table Wolves in the space of three weeks, Amorim added: ‘In the Premier League, you never know. They have their problems, we have our problems, but there are no excuses. We need to win, and we will try to win the game.’