Akin Ayomide
Ruben Amorim is refusing to take anything for granted as he approaches a match against Everton at Old Trafford on Monday that marks the first anniversary of his maiden game in charge of Manchester United.
Amorim’s reign as United manager started with a 1-1 draw away to Ipswich and since then the Portuguese boss has experienced plenty of lows in charge of the English football giants.
But recent results have been encouraging, with United heading into this weekend’s round of matches seventh in the Premier League table and unbeaten in their last five games.
When it was pointed out to Amorim that United only face three top-10 teams in the next 10 matches, he told reporters: “It doesn’t matter. In our league, it doesn’t matter.
“The table it doesn’t matter as everything is so tight. That is irrelevant.
“If you know the history of our team, we never know where the difficult games are. That is completely irrelevant in the Premier League.”
Much has changed at United since last November’s trip to Ipswich, where Marcus Rashford scored early in the 1-1 draw.
The forward is among five starters from that match who are no longer members of the United squad.
“The first thinking was about thinking the environment is completely different in the Premier League and I was excited with that,” said Amorim.
“Right away I knew we would struggle with some things. But it was that feeling of, yes, this is the best league in the world. It is maybe the best club in the world, but at the same time it is a big job and it is going to require a lot of work.”
Nevertheless, an optimistic Amorim added: “I think we are showing that (improvement), but the important thing is that it doesn’t matter what we did in the recent games, we cannot forget that we started in that point to suffer a lot last year.
“We have to take that into account and to play every game like it is the last one or the first one.
“If you ask me, yes, I expect a team (now) with more control and with more dominance, playing better football and the most important thing is we are more competitive in every way.”