Not even Pope could make me change tactics — Amorim

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has insisted he will not abandon his preferred system, declaring that “not even the Pope” could persuade him to change his controversial 3-4-2-1 formation.

The Portuguese coach is under pressure after a difficult start to the season, with just one win from four Premier League matches and an early exit from the EFL Cup against League Two side Grimsby.

Questions about his formation have grown louder following last weekend’s derby defeat to Manchester City and a visit from minority shareholder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who flew into the Carrington training ground on Thursday in his helicopter.

United officials have said the visit was ‘pre-planned’ rather than any sort of emergency summit.

Amorim said, “He was offering me a new contract,” laughed the former Sporting boss, whose side have managed just one win from four Premier League games this season and been knocked out of the EFL Cup by League Two Grimsby.

He even managed a joke when the questioning turned around the more serious matter of whether Ratcliffe had suggested he may wish to change the 3-4-2-1 formation Amorim is stubbornly refusing to alter, despite widespread criticism.

“No, no, no,” he said. “No one. Not even the Pope will change…

“This is my job. This is my responsibility. This is my life. So, I will not change that.”

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is yet to win successive Premier League games with the club

Amorim’s reasoning for sticking with his system remains the same.

He feels if he bows to pressure it will undermine him in the eyes of his players.

“If I’m a player and I have a coach that, with a lot of pressure and [people] all around the world, are saying ‘you need to change the system’, says ‘I’m going to change’, they will look at me in a different way.

“Everything is important when you think about the impact that a decision is going to have on the team.

“I’m doing things my way. I hope to have the time to change, but it will be an evolution.”

Speaking before Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford, Amorim says he understands the urgent need to win games.

While United officials have rejected the idea that he has three games until next month’s international break to save his job, Amorim knows the matches against Chelsea, Brentford, and newly-promoted Sunderland have the potential to change the narrative around him.

The return from injury of £62.5m forward Matheus Cunha is likely to see skipper Bruno Fernandes again start in a deeper midfield role against Chelsea.

Fernandes’ failure to track Phil Foden’s run into the United penalty area in the lead-up to the opening goal against City – following a similar error that allowed Emile Smith Rowe to equalise for Fulham at Craven Cottage last month – has been cited as evidence for why the 31-year-old should be moved higher up the pitch.

Not for the first time, Amorim explained why he feels Fernandes can be more effective in the centre of his midfield.

“I want Bruno to have more possession to try to control the game,” he said.

“Maybe he doesn’t have the same freedom to get inside the box, but he is getting there and he can do his shots.

“Sometimes we miss Bruno in front a little bit, but if Cunha is there, we have an extra player.

“I’m just trying to balance the team and imagine the game, and I see Bruno well.

“He’s frustrated because he is not winning, and sometimes he likes to go further. But he has a job to do.”

Meanwhile, director of football Jason Wilcox has given a rare interview in which he has discussed the “challenges” he has encountered at the club since he joined in April 2024.

Speaking at the Association of Former Manchester United Players on Thursday night in a Q&A shared by Man Utd The Religion Youtube channel, the 54-year-old said he “thought the club was in a much better place than it was” and “the whole structure of Manchester United needed to change”.

“I pray we get the opportunity to turn it around. I really feel it is not ‘will we win again?’ but ‘when we’ll win again’,” he added.

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