Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United need stability and the players believe Ruben Amorim is the right man to bring the club back to where it belongs.
United have lurched from one extreme to another this season, suffering chastening defeats at Manchester City and Brentford, but the captain was glad to see Amorim get the public backing of minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe over the international break.
Amorim is yet to win back-to-back league games nearly a year into the job, but there is a unifying message of support coming from the players and those above him ahead of a huge trip to Liverpool on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
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“I think the club needs stability,” Fernandes, on his third permanent United manager in nearly six years, told Sky Sports. “That’s the [message] I think Sir Jim wants to pass through everyone.
“Sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture and as a group of players we believe that the manager can help this club to get back where it belongs.”
He added: “If Sir Jim sees it the same way as the players, that the manager is the right one for the job, it makes it better that we have two groups of people looking in the same way.”
Every Man Utd manager ‘one game from a crisis’
Victory over Sunderland before the international break brought a renewed sense of optimism to Old Trafford, but another no-show performance would likely put Amorim back in the spotlight, even after Ratcliffe vowed to give him three years.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Man Utd’s match against Sunderland in the Premier League
Fernandes expects nothing less and says his team-mates must rise above the external noise if they are to succeed at the club.
“Any manager that comes here will be one game away from a crisis,” said the United captain.
“This club is always like that. If you win a game, it looks like you’re going to win the league. If you lose a game, it looks like there is a cloud over the club that will never go.
“We have players that are aware of the dimension of the club and how it works. We don’t need this around us. We need to know what we’re doing, what we want to achieve in the long term and what we want to achieve for the next game.
“That’s needs to be the aim for every player because at this club any manager will be under pressure when they get a bad result and our manager’s no different.
“But he is very prepared for that and he knows how big of a challenge this is.”
‘I don’t know’ – Amorim on how long it will take to catch Liverpool
Amorim admits he does not know how long it will take for United to reach the level of Premier League champions Liverpool.
The clubs meet at Anfield for the 100th time on Sunday – live on Sky Sports – in a fixture that remains one of the most highly anticipated in the footballing calendar.
United endured their worst campaign of the Premier League era under Amorim last season, finishing 15th as their fiercest rivals equalled their record of 20 league titles.
Amorim has the backing of his players and those above him at Man Utd
For all their dominance, England’s two most successful clubs’ best periods have rarely coincided and, if anything, tend to come when the other is in decline.
Asked what a realistic aim is to close the gap to Liverpool, Amorim said: “I don’t know. Sometimes things change really fast.
“We can win any game, so if we think just about the next game, that is the most important thing and we can win the next game.
“We are going to fight to be at the same level as Liverpool in the future, that is the idea. I don’t know how long that is going to take.”
