A loss for Amorim at Chelsea at Old Trafford on Saturday evening could mean the end of the Portuguese tactician who has masterminded the club’s poorest start to a Premier League campaign since 1992-93. A win is imperative but the odds are stacked against United heading into the tie.
Feeling the pressure?
Questions first centred on needing a win and Amorim revealed that the pressure may be getting to him as results continue to disappoint.
“And this is football and this is maybe the club with the most pressure in the world. We want to win. And again, you can say whatever.
"I think last year I was very critical of the way we played. I think we are playing well until the boxes - defending and attacking. We need to be more aggressive in the boxes and more clinical.
“The rest, I think we are improving. And comparing to last year, we're in a better place. But we need to win and we lost against Arsenal and City. Here losing, in the beginning, especially after last season, is a problem."
Meeting with Ratcliffe
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe flew into the club's Carrington training ground in a helicopter on Thursday for a series of meetings, including with Amorim who joked that he had been offered a new deal.
"New contract. He was offering me a new contract (laughs). No, it was normal things, to show his support, explaining that it is a long project. He said many times this is my first season. For me it's not. But normal things.
"I spoke with him, Omar and Jason, trying to see all the data around the team. So a normal meeting and we had several. But in this moment, it's normal people pay attention to that."
Amorim misses Martinez
Defender Lisandro Martinez is close to returning for United and Amorim has admitted that he is missing the Argentina international who brings aggression to the side.
"It’s really important (that Martinez is nearing a return). When you have that injury you recover a lot of times very fast and then there is a boring part where it looks like you don't go to the next step.
“We miss Licha a lot. We miss the aggression in this moment, how aggressive he is on everything he does, we miss him. But he’s always there in every meeting, even in training, he stays there to watch the training. I think we need Licha in this team."
Preparing for Chelsea
Finally, the United boss was asked what he has done to prepare for this weekend's clash.
"We used that time to analyse the last game, analyse the next game and prepare different things. I think, again, we are playing well until we reach the boxes.
"We need to be more clinical. If you see the number of shots, the xG, all these things are good, but if you don't score, or win games, it doesn't matter. Then, again, I said after the last game, the way we suffer the goals, we can avoid it.
"We are being naive and we need to be more aggressive to win games. We just need to maintain how we are playing, with improving in the opponent's box and our box."
