Ruben Amorim has admitted he questioned his future at Manchester United during his first year at the club.
Amorim will mark his one-year anniversary since agreeing to become the club’s manager on Saturday when United visit Nottingham Forest to strengthen their challenge for a place in the Premier League’s top four.
The Portuguese boss has endured a difficult 12 months since joining from Sporting, finishing 15th, losing in the Europa League final and winning just one of his first five games this season – prompting him to wonder if he would make it through a year in charge.
“It’s hard to say. Sometimes, in some moments,” he said. “There were moments that were difficult to deal with, losing so many games. It was so difficult for me because this is Manchester United.
“The position we had in the last year where we put all the attention on the Europa League and didn’t win. It was huge. I had some moments where I struggled a lot and I thought maybe it wasn’t meant to be.
“Today is the opposite. So you can write this one. Today I feel and I know it was the best decision of my life. I want to be here, but for that I have to win against Nottingham Forest.”
Amorim is enjoying his best spell at the club, with United winning five of their last seven league games, including wins over Chelsea and Liverpool, to put themselves in the mix to qualify for Europe.
However, he is not prepared to declare that the hard times are over.
“It’s hard to say. We have to think positively, but we also have to be prepared for football to be that [up and down]. And we’re not the team that I can tell you, no, no, no.
“Now we can lose here or there, but we will maintain. I trust my players more. I think they trust me more. It will come with victories. And you can sense that because everyone is now saying it, how connected they are and they believe in the manager.”
“It’s about winning games. It didn’t change much because against Arsenal I saw the same team so I don’t know.
“I think we’re in a better place, but it’s also really good to always have that feeling and prepare for something to change. If we have that feeling, we’ll pay attention to the details and we’ll maintain that course on our way.
“I can say that we are a better team at this moment and we feel it and we know it and it can help us to better overcome the bad moments.”
Amorim and Dyche on who would do better at Man Utd
Amorim also responded to comments made by Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche ahead of his appointment at the City Ground.
While out of work in August, Dyche said: “I might get hammered for it, but I bet I could win more games with that team playing 4-4-2.”
The former Everton boss also went on to say that Amorim should be given time to continue his work at the club.
On Thursday, Amorim said: “First of all, maybe it’s true that if we play in a 4-4-2, then we won more games. But I always say that I have a way of playing that is going to take a while and then in the future it will be better.
“We don’t know. I can look at Sean Dyche as a manager and an expert. If you’re an expert and you don’t say very strong things, I don’t want to see you. I’m the same.
“I can totally understand it being a different job. I know Sean Dyche is clever and he knows how to play the game.
“He understands that it’s one thing to watch the game and talk about it. It’s another thing to coach a team.”
Ruben Amorim has responded to Sean Dyche’s comments from August
Dyche, who also spoke on Thursday, said he did not question Amorim as a person and that “clickbait kills everything, it changes the whole story”.
He added: “They said, ‘What would be a fair timeline?’ and I said, ‘half a season to continue the work he did’, but unfortunately that’s not in the story, we all know that.
“For the point tally, I suggested that basically it would have worked better. They’ve changed their style, fair play to him, his coaching staff, the players. They’ve changed their style, not necessarily their beliefs, but just their style.
“They get a bit quicker to play forward and longer, a bit tighter and get back into shape. It’s management, it’s coaching.
“It doesn’t mean he’s changed his whole philosophy, it just means he’s adapting it to the challenge that’s right in front of him. Fair play to him.”