Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has insisted he is not worried about the safety his job despite the team slumping to a 12th Premier League defeat of the season at Tottenham Hotspur and languishing in 15th.
James Maddison’s first-half rebound proved enough for Spurs to overcome United 1-0 in what was a tight affair between two injury-affected teams in London.
Amorim has now lost eight of his 14 league games since replacing Erik ten Hag at the helm, but said he is more worried by being in the bottom half of the table than potentially losing the role.
“I am not worried. I understand our fans, what the media think about it,” he said to the BBC. “I hate to lose, that feeling is the worst.
“The rest I am not thinking about. I am here to help my players. I understand my situation, my job, I am confident in my work and I just want to win games.
“The place in the table is my worry, I am not worried about me.”
The Portuguese coach went on to bemoan the small margins that decided the game, with Alejandro Garnacho particularly guilty of spurning a gilt-edged opportunity to restore parity before the half-time whistle.
“It was the difference of the game, they scored and we didn’t,” he said. “We had the opportunities. We had situations in transitions, trying to get a result, but in the end they scored and we didn’t.”
United were dealt a body blow this weekend as Amad Diallo was ruled out for “likely” the rest of the season with an ankle ligament injury sustained in training.
Amorim’s dearth of choice was made clear by his bench on Sunday, with Victor Lindelöf the only established first-team player among a pool of untested teenagers.
Only Chido Obi-Martin was summoned and that came in the closing moments of the game, with Amorim saying he was acting with caution.
“It is the hardest competition in the world. I am trying to be careful with them,” he said. “I felt the team was pushing for the goal and I felt I don’t want to change. But they will play.
“You try to read the game, understand what you see in training. The team were pushing for the goal and I didn’t feel the need to change.”
United’s next game comes at David Moyes’ resurgent Everton on Saturday.
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