The Manchester United chief is concerned that Reuben Amorim may leave his job despite watching his side take away a critical victory over Burnley, courtesy of a stop-time penalty from skipper Bruno Fernandez. United claimed the Maiden Premier League victory in the campaign in a thrilling conclusion at Old Trafford.
However, this victory simply hidden the flaws of yet another display that shook from brilliant to strange. And while United continued to support Amorim’s ability to transform the team, the 40-year-old’s unstable behaviour began to worry officials. Following Wednesday’s shocking Carabao Cup elimination at Grimsby, speculation has circulated around Old Trafford that the former sports manager could leave among the international windows, regardless of the outcome of Burnley’s match.
Such fears could have been temporarily eased after the morale-boosting maiden victory in the new campaign. However, Amorim declared:
“It’s day to day. I’m happy. We’ve returned to today’s level a little. When we take it on Wednesday, we’re more consistent in performance compared to last year. That’s a good thing.”
Amorim has not shown he is reluctant to publicly criticize his team. Some senior players are disillusioned with Amorim’s commitment to the 3-4-3 tactical formation that has been used very often in Lisbon.
Some United players believe his system doesn’t fit the profile of his team in Manchester. And some of those players felt alienated by the public criticism of the manager after admitting that Amorim sometimes disliked his team.
A warning sign appeared in the boardroom when Amorim stated that he was willing to leave the club without demanding compensation if he believed his departure would serve both parties’ best interests.
However, he moved forward to support goalkeeper Altai Bayindeal following the latest error from the Turkish shotstopper and following Jadon Anthony allowing Burnley’s second equalizer.
Amorim said: “Yes, after a while (I hate players), but when they put in the effort, I always love them. I think we need to understand that we should have always been at this level of effort.
“We played well at first, and when the game wasn’t that perfect, you can feel like the team had a bit of a struggle, but the effort was always there.
“Everyone, they’re human. Everyone talks about goalkeepers, but I think it’s difficult to be a goalkeeper for Manchester United at this moment.
“The players struggle a bit with everything around the club. That’s normal. So it’s not just the goalkeeper. I think everyone has to improve.”
United believes they provided unwavering support to Amorim – standing firm behind him after he excluded famous stars from his team including Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho and Tyrell Malacia.
