Amorim claps back at rival manager after Man Utd claim that now looks foolish

Ruben Amorim has hit back at previous claims made by Sean Dyche ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Man Utd are surging right now, winning three on the spin in the Premier League and four of their last five. There’s still work to be done on the squad-building front, but with the summer arrivals of Senne Lammens, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha in particular, Amorim now has players more suited to his system on board.

Cunha and Mbeumo are both starring in the dual No 10 roles behind the striker. Mbeumo has already been branded the signing of the summer by The Telegraph.

United have their eyes on another three points on Saturday when squaring off against Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest.

Dyche succeeded Ange Postecoglou in what has been a torrid season so far. Forest have fired more managers (two) than the number of league matches they’ve won (one).

And ahead of Forest vs Man Utd on Saturday, Dyche’s past comments about Amorim and his win-rate have hit the headlines once again.

Speaking back in May at a time when Dyche was out of work, he declared on an episode of The Overlap: “He [Amorim] better win some games – pretty quick. I reckon if I went there and played my way, we’d win more games.

“Just 4-4-2 – give them basic rules of principles. They have some good players. You don’t have to over teach everyone.

“I’d be interested more in the longer run, if he can stick to his principals and then next season, we’re all going, ‘Fair play’ – but, he’s been there a while now so you better start bringing some wins soon.”

Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation has been a talking point throughout his tenure at Old Trafford. Yet no matter how poor results were, the Portuguese always insisted he would not deviate from the tactics and philosophy he believes in.

Patience shown by Man Utd now appears to be paying off and Amorim was asked about Dyche’s comments in a press conference on Thursday.

Amorim clapped back at Dyche, insisting the only reason he made such comments was because he was a pundit at the time and pundits who don’t give strong and sometimes outlandish opinions go unnoticed.

Amorim said (as quoted by the MEN): “First of all, maybe it’s true if we play 4-4-2 we [would have] won more games, but I always said that I have a way of playing that is going to take a while, but in the future it’s going to be better. So we don’t know that. Then I can look at Sean Dyche as a manager and then as a pundit.

“If you are a pundit and you don’t say very strong things, I don’t want to watch you! I’m the same. So I can understand that it’s a completely different job. I know that Sean Dyche is really smart and he knows how to play the game.

“And he also understands that one thing is when we are seeing the game and talking about the game, the other thing is to coach a team.

“So I understand that, I have nothing to say, I just want to win the next game.”

Latest Man Utd news – Mainoo and Zirkzee calls…

In other news, West Ham have called Man Utd about the prospect of loaning Kobbie Mainoo or Joshua Zirkzee in January.

EPL rules stipulate a team cannot loan two players from the same side. As such, the Hammers appear to be covering their bases to give themselves the best shot at landing someone, rather than no one.

In any case, Ruben Amorim is instructing the Man Utd board to reject approaches for Mainoo and Zirkzee. Unless there’s a dramatic U-turn, neither player will leave in January.

Elsewhere, Jadon Sancho will NOT be returned to Old Trafford in January despite his lack of opportunities during his loan spell with Aston Villa. The terms of Sancho’s agreement at Villa Park do not contain a break clause.

Finally, TEAMtalk has taken a look at the 10 players signed by Erik ten Hag who are still at Man Utd and predicted when each star could leave.

VOTE: Is Amorim the right man for Man Utd? ⬇️