Ruben Amorim accepts he and his squad are ‘underperforming’ in the wake of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s scathing assessment of Manchester United’s squad.
The INEOS chief, who assumed control of football operations at Old Trafford 12 months ago, has struggled to see any semblance of a positive return on his investment during a chaotic first year at the helm.
Ratcliffe admitted earlier this week that the decision to persist with Erik ten Hag beyond the summer was an error that has left Amorim inheriting a disjointed squad ill-suited to the demands of his 3-4-3 formation.
‘Some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid, but for us to mold the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time,’ said Ratcliffe in one of the many wide-ranging interviews he has given over the course of the last week.
‘We’ve got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future.
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‘We’re buying Antony, we’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying Onana, we’re buying Hojlund, we’re buying Sancho. These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we’ve inherited those things and have to sort that out.’
Asked if Antony, Casemiro, Onana and Hojlund were good enough for the club all Ratcliffe replied ‘was ‘there are some great players in the squad as we know, the captain is a fabulous footballer. We definitely need Bruno (Fernandes), he’s a fantastic footballer.’
Amorim could have been forgiven for feeling that Ratcliffe’s view of the current playing staff and the headlines it generated represented another unwanted distraction ahead of a crucial game for his team.
Tomorrow night’s Europa League tie against Real Sociedad is delicately poised at 1-1 but Amorim insists he is comfortable with Ratcliffe offering up his opinions in such a public fashion.
‘If we are being honest in this moment, everybody, me, all the players, we are underperforming this season,’ said the former Sporting boss.
‘We can always change that and I include myself in that part of the underperforming.
‘You are talking about players like Casemiro, for example, that won everything and we know these kind of players can play so much better.’
Despite the criticism, Amorim said he has a good relationship with Ratcliffe as they are ‘really blunt and honest’ with each other while the Portuguese manager was also happy to hear the co-owner publicly support him.
‘It’s a little bit the character, we are quite similar. I always felt the support of the board and especially from Sir Jim,’ Amorim said.
‘All these conversations I already had in the past with them. After matches, they went to the dressing room, talked to me to explain this.
‘To say it publicly is really good for the coach. But I continue to say the same thing, we need results and we need to improve the team.’
