In an interview with DAZN’s The Premier Pub programme, Ruben Amorim spoke about his experience at Manchester United and revealed that he spent Christmas alone in England.
Dealing with the press: “I’m not fed up, if we’d had other results it would be easier to talk. But it’s part of the job and here I am”.
Balance: “I already knew it was going to be very difficult, but it’s a completely different world. Lots of ups and downs, sometimes it feels like you take one step forward, two steps back, then another step back and three steps forward.
“It’s been a bit like that, not enough time to train, but we already knew that. We want to give the players as much information as possible, we have to prepare for the next game and not work on the last one.
“These are challenges and you learn a lot. Even in the little things, in set pieces, the way squads are built, the tactics you use. It’s something you learn a lot about in a month and as a coach I’ve learnt a lot”.
Challenge: “We’ve had almost no time. We’re focused on winning games because we have to win games and especially here the pressure is very high.
“We’re going through a difficult time, but regardless of the context they expect us to win every game. Between passing on information and receiving information has been a big challenge.
“And having to prepare for games with different strategies. Sometimes we have to be so simple that it’s not the best strategy, but we have to realise that it’s the one they’re prepared for.”
Rotation: “We’re used to one thing and then when we arrive at another club there’s still no groundwork and the changes don’t always help. There are so many games in a row that it’s impossible.
“We have players who have recovered from injuries and it’s impossible for them to play two games in a row, because they’ll break down and then the other player will be overloaded.
“The squad was made for another style of play, another system and there are players who are alone in one position and we have to find others. It’s difficult to find an eleven when we don’t know the players yet. The base is missing.
“It’s a difficult balance, which we’re trying to achieve and winning games makes it more complicated. But in the month what we’ve grown is very important. It’s the confidence and enthusiasm to think about the next game and how the team will perform.”
Premier League experience on the coaching staff: “No, we didn’t have any. We had Darren Fletcher and Andreas Georgson, who came from Brentford for the dead-ball stuff.
“We follow, but it’s different when you’re here. There are details in the preparation of the squads, the way they play, the influence the wind has, the context, the pressure, the way a Manchester United player has to be immune to pressure.
“I’m always with the same staff and we all learn together at the same time.”
Amorim the coach versus the player: “I separate things better, I know my role, what to do in certain situations. I’m not that different. We can’t have a leadership that’s different from the person we are, otherwise we’ll get tired of it one day and it’ll all sound a bit false.
“I try to stay true to myself. I think I was born with the ability to be simple in my message but assertive. I’ve coached former colleagues and had to make difficult decisions and it’s become easy, I do it without any problem. It’s my job, I don’t confuse things.”
Portuguese coaches in the Premier League: “It shows the quality of the Portuguese coach because we adapt well. We don’t always play the same way, it’s a quality we have, a very diverse background. We coach both big teams and less big teams, in organised attacks or transitions.
“When we played with Nuno Espirito Santo (Nottingham Forest) you realise how much experience he has, Marco Silva (Fulham) is doing an extraordinary job, Vitor Pereira (Wolves) has been around the block, but I remember well that he only lost one league game (against Porto).”
Christmas in England: “With nobody, I’ll be working and I’d rather my children had Christmas in Portugal, the last one for years to come. So much is going to change. I’ll be working at the match on the 26th (against Wolves), there’s no problem, I’ll do a Facetime and I’ll be fine, I want them to have fun.”
