Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has once again made the headlines for his comments after their hard-fought 1-0 win over Fulham on Sunday, Afrosport reports.
While speaking to the media after the game, Amorim once again affirmed his decision to omit Marcus Rashford from his squad, adding that he would rather field his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach than a player who is not ready to give their all.
The Rashford saga continues as the 27-year-old has not been named to a United matchday squad for six weeks, following comments made in an interview with British journalist Henry Winter, where he claimed he was ready for a new challenge in his career.
Amorim, however, claimed he wasn’t disturbed by the comments at the time, but the Portuguese coach has repeatedly remained adamant as regards the demands from his players despite the team’s struggles.
“It’s always the same reason – the training, the way I see a footballer should do in life. It’s every day, every detail,” said Amorim, when asked why Rashford was not available.
“If things don’t change, I will not change. It’s the same situation for every player, if you do the maximum and right things we can use every player.
“You can see on the bench we miss a bit of pace on the bench, but I would put [Manchester United goalkeeper coach Jorge] Vital before a player who doesn’t give the maximum every day.”
The January transfer window closes on 3 February, and there are no reports of a concrete move away from Old Trafford for Rashford, who is said to have admirers in clubs like Barcelona, AC Milan, and Borussia Dortmund.
Meanwhile, Amorim, who turns 40 on Monday, joked that he felt 10 years older due to the enormous pressure that comes with the United job.
The Red Devils are currently 12th in the Premier League and fourth in the Europa League, but they have won just four league games since Amorim’s arrival in November.
“It’s not 40… I’m 50,” the former Sporting boss joked. “After two months at Manchester United, it’s 50. It’s a privilege to spend my 40th birthday here.
“That feeling of winning and three points is really important for us. You cannot see a great improvement in the team and that is a fact. But to win helps us to improve.”
Amorim was also critical of his team’s performance against Fulham with yet another subpar performance where they registered only one shot on target, which turned out to be Lisandro Martinez’s winner.
“Today was not the best match but we managed to win,” added Amorim. “The important thing is I have a clear idea of what I want to do. Sometimes I’m frustrated.
“We want to play a different style and we are going to play different style in the future.”
United have now won three of their past four matches in all competitions and will turn their attention to Europe, where they will travel to Romania to take on FCSB in another must-win encounter.
