Ruben Amorim sends survival warning to Manchester United stars ahead of ‘long journey’ back to the top

Manchester United are closer to the relegation zone than the top four.

Wolves climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone on Thursday by dragging Manchester United closer to the dogfight.

Ruben Amorim’s rocky start was made worse on Thursday when United suffered a 2-0 defeat against Wolves at Molineux. The United first-team failed to give fans reason to celebrate the festive month after a dire run of results has us sat 14th in the league table.

Matheus Cunha scored directly from a corner kick to embarrass Andre Onana after Bruno Fernandes’ second bookable offence led to a red card. Wolves sealed the win in the 99th minute through Hee-Chan Hwang as Vitor Pereira gets a perfect good to life in English football.

The problems United have are there for everyone to see – week in, week out – but Amorim needs time to implement his preferred system. It becomes more challenging when you consider the Reds have tricky games in the pipeline against Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal too.

It doesn’t bode well that United are 17 points off the top of the table, 11 points off the top four but just eight points above the relegation zone. It’s a mountain to climb and losing football matches will make it steeper.

Bad results always lead to calls for United to make new signings, but we need a lot more than that right now.

Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Ruben Amorim puts Manchester United in survival mode

United’s league position is uncomfortable and only getting worse.

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Amorim has called for togetherness during a tough period for United, but he is showing no signs of changing his ways, which is a warning to players that they either get on board or find the next flight out of Manchester.

Speaking to reporters in his post-match press conference, Amorim was asked if he was worried about getting pulled into the relegation scrap.

In response, he gave a warning to his players about the current situation at Old Trafford and he stressed it will be a long journey back to the top.

“Yes,” Amorim said. “In this moment we have to survive and have some time to work on the team. We already knew it when I start this job and you start with a team in the new idea and without any training and just in the games.

“We already knew it and it is a long journey like I said in the first day and we have to continue. We have to fight in these bad moments because this is football.”

Amorim not focused on Europe

The league table suggests United won’t be in the top four battle this season, but the Reds also run the risk of failing to qualify for UEFA’s second-rate competitions.

Of course, there’s a slim chance United will the Europa League, but Amorim is not focusing on that. He is thinking long-term and trying to get United back to the top of English football because the Premier League has always been our bread and butter.

Sadly, United’s form does not help. Under Amorim, they have yet to show signs that they will turn things around before it’s too late.

“No, no, no,” Amorim replied when asked if he’s thinking about Europe.

“We have to work on a lot of things in our club, inside the pitch and outside the pitch, in each game and use every minute of training and game to improve the team.”

The priority now is to win football matches consecutively. Not one-off victories like we experienced in the Manchester derby earlier this month.

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