BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Under even more pressure after losing the biggest game of season, Ruben Amorim was left asking Manchester United fans to have some faith about the future.
His team lost 1-0 to Premier League rival Tottenham in the Europa League final on Wednesday as United caps off one of the worst seasons in club history.
“I have nothing to show to our fans, I’m really honest with that,” Amorim said. “But again I will continue to do the things the way I know.”
Amorim said he “will not quit” or “change,” and didn’t want to talk about his future right after the loss.
“We have to see. This moment, I’m not going to be here defending myself. I have nothing to show to the fans and say, ‘I’m going to improve because of this…'” he said. “So in this moment it’s a little bit of faith. Let’s see. I’m always open. If the board and the fans feel that I’m not the right guy, I will go the next day. But I’m really confident about my job.”
The 40-year-old Amorim, who took over in November after the firing of Erik ten Hag, has led United to 16th in the Premier League, where it has a club-record 18 defeats in a single campaign since the Premier League began in 1992.
The team’s last hope of playing in a European competition next season was by winning the Europa League on Wednesday.
“We have two plans for the market and we have to understand it is tough for a club like ours not to be in the Champions League,” Amorim said. “But we have to use the other side. We have more time to think and to work hard during the week and to be better in the Premier League, that will be our focus.”
Amorim said he felt his team played better than Tottenham and deserved the victory on Wednesday.
“We didn’t perform perfectly today but we were better than the opponent,” he said. “In the second half, we tried everything with the central defenders, with players wide, the process going in the box. There are some days I have said we were really poor but I think today was not that day. We were not perfect though and we have a lot to improve.”
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