Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has addressed the controversial comment that he made following Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League.
Amorim called his team "maybe the worst Manchester United side in history" in the aftermath of the loss to Brighton, which left them down in 13th spot in the Premier League table, suffering 10 defeats from 22 league fixtures this term.
The Portuguese was asked about his statement on Wednesday, as he previewed Thursday's Europa League clash against Rangers, and the ex-Sporting Lisbon manager clarified what he meant by his comment.
"I was talking more from myself rather than from my players because I was talking as a coach who has lost seven or eight games from the first ten," Amorim told reporters.
"It is more for me and I was talking more about me than the players. I will also talk about the response [from the media] that I was not helping my players [with the comment].
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Amorim called his team "maybe the worst Manchester United side in history"
"If you look around, every time I speak and I speak a lot, every time you push about the players not being good enough it puts the spotlight on my players. I understand that, [so] I gave you that headline.
"I am frustrated sometimes and sometimes I should not say that in those terms and it is what it is. That is it and sometimes it is hard to hide the frustration in some moments.
"The good thing is I said the same things in a different way in the dressing room, five minutes before, the response was quite normal because I am quite blunt with my players. They turned it [around] well and they are ready for this game tomorrow.
"We need the first thing, in my mind, they cannot score. We need to score the first one and if we scored the first one that would change [things] and we would play better at home in the beginning.
"That is it and I think we are really clear that we are anxious playing, especially at home, and we are suffering goals then it is really hard. I think it is clear for everybody that it is getting harder to play at Old Trafford."
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Amorim: 'Mood can be lifted quite quickly'
Amorim, though, insisted that the mood can change quickly in football, with Man United facing Rangers in the Europa League at Old Trafford on Thursday before a trip to Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
"The most important thing is to think we can improve right away in the next match and then it is like that!" he added.
"Football can change like that and we can have a lot of ideas and thinking that things could get worse for that reason and another reason but imagine tomorrow we do not suffer a goal in the beginning and we score, we play well and then we go to Fulham and we can win it. That will change - even the environment here - everything."
Man United are currently seventh in the Europa League table, boasting 12 points from six matches, and finishing inside the top eight would guarantee them a spot in the knockout round of the competition.
Matt Law
