Ruben Amorim confident he will remain Man Utd manager | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim has insisted he has no intention of going anywhere despite speculation over his position as Manchester United manager following Wednesday’s shock Carabao Cup defeat to League Two Grimsby.

After their penalty shootout loss at Blundell Park, Amorim had said “something has to change” at the club and he would “think things through” during next week’s international break – leading to questions over his future after a winless first three games of the season.

But ahead of Saturday’s Premier League match at home to Burnley, Amorim explained his comments were made in the heat of the moment on a hugely frustrating night.

When asked if he would still be in the job when United visit rivals City on September 14, Amorim said: “I don’t know what is going to happen. That is my idea, but I’m not going to promise you nothing, what is going to be in the future.

“But I’m the manager of Manchester United, and I think that is not going to change.”

And when asked if he still had confidence in his ability to take United forward, Amorim said: “Yes.”

With a laugh, he added: “It depends on the day. But I’m confident because I saw these players play really well in tough matches. And I see it in training. That training is so much better.

“I was not surprised, I was shocked in the last game, shocked. This game was not our team, the way we are doing things. So I’m always confident in the way I manage the team.”

Even so, a start to the season in which United have lost at home to Arsenal, drawn away to Fulham and then suffered humiliation at Grimsby has quickly extinguished much of the optimism from pre-season.

In May, as United limped towards a 15th-placed finish in the Premier League, Amorim had said if the bad feeling continued into this season “we should give the space to different persons”.

Asked if there were elements of the Grimsby performance that reminded him of last term, Amorim said: “We just need to focus on a lot of things, and I feel that the players are always thinking about the past. They think there is something in the water here or in the food.

“It’s nothing, it’s in our minds. We just need to focus on the next game. We dropped the level. Now we have to respond in the next game.”

Amid United’s struggles since his appointment in November, Amorim has often amplified the scrutiny with emotional post-match comments, with this week just the latest example.

Last December the Portuguese suggested United were in a relegation battle after a loss to Newcastle, and defeat to Brighton in January was followed by Amorim saying “we are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United”.

Asked who talks him down in these emotional moments, Amorim said: “Myself. I just need 10 minutes with myself alone. Sometimes when you say you want to quit, I don’t love the players, sometimes I hate my kids…I’m going to be like that.

“I’m not going to change. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s a funny thing. I’m going to suffer. We just need to win some games.”