Harry Maguire admits Ruben Amorim’s job is much more difficult as he is the “complete opposite” of Erik ten Hag, but has backed the Manchester United boss to turn around their dismal season.
Amorim have lost half of their 10 games since taking over as manager and head into Monday’s live Premier League clash against Newcastle. Sky Sportslosing three in a row in all competitions.
The Portuguese inherited a team that Ten Hag built to play transitional, counter-attacking football, making them very ill-suited to his philosophy of possession and high ground.
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Amorim also has the added complication of preferring to play with three at the back, but Maguire believes he has what it takes to overcome his difficult start and push the club, currently 14th, up the table.
“It’s about the manager and the styles, it’s not like they came and have similar styles,” Maguire told Sky Sports.
“So the transition period is going to be difficult. We all have a lot of faith in the manager and his whole coaching staff. He knows exactly what to do to get this club back.
“He’s come in and done everything he needs to do. He’s really demanding.”
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Premier League highlights from Wolves v Manchester United
United are closer to the relegation zone on points than the Champions League places when they travel to Newcastle after a 2-0 defeat at Wolves in their final game of 2024.
Amorim, who will be without captain Bruno Fernandes after receiving a red card, has already been asked about the possibility of being sacked with less than two months to go.
Asked if Amorim was frustrated by the poor run of results, Maguire added:
“It’s disappointing. We want to win football matches and make our fans happy because it hasn’t been good enough so far this season.”
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Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim says every manager is under pressure and there is no way he can be “comfortable” in his position at Old Trafford, especially after three consecutive defeats.
United need a positive result to ease the pressure on their new manager and lift spirits at Old Trafford, but face a resurgent Newcastle before another live game against league leaders Liverpool a week later. Sky Sports.
Maguire said there was no talk of targets in the dressing room because of the difficult position they found themselves in.
He said: “We’re just doing everything we can to get up the table. We can’t really set a goal at the moment because we’re nowhere near as good and nowhere where we want to be in the table.
“It’s really disappointing what we’ve done so far. We know it’s not good enough for this club.”
