Though he may have been seen as the perfect elixir for Manchester United, Ruben Amorim had to watch as his side struggled to a 1-1 draw with hosts Ipswich Town in their Premier League clash on Sunday.
In his defence, Amorim who began work at United on November 11 has not had much time to work with the side to perform any kind of miracles just yet.
With the draw, United found themselves in 12th place with 16 points while Ipswich are third from bottom in 18th position with just nine points from their campaign. Liverpool have nearly double United’s tally with 31 points at the top of the table, eight ahead of a faltering Manchester City.
The 39-year-old Amorim cautioned that it would be some time before his side would be able to produce desirable results.
‘This will take time’
“We are going to suffer for a long period, and we will try to win games," Amorim said.
”This will take time, but I know we have to win games. We could have won, we could have lost if it were not for [goalkeeper Andre] Onana.
"We have to understand that and think and be pragmatic that these guys had two days to train and to change so much.”
Amorim brought incredible success to Sporting Lisbon as he led the side to the Portuguese league title in 2020/2021 and again in the 2023/2024 season.
He may have already been called the new messiah for United, but Amorim said himself that his expectations were low for now.
"It's hard to expect anything now. It’s not a surprise, but you have to see it in-game.
"So that's why I was a little bit anxious, because you cannot understand what will happen in the game.
"I felt that. I felt that they were trying, they were thinking too much during the game, and that is normal.”
Next up for United is a Europa League clash at home at Old Trafford as they welcome Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt on Thursday.
"With this schedule, we need to rotate the team. So we'll try to use that to train, to improve the team, and to win matches.
"So that's the point. Without time, we have to find the time. I think this is the only way.”
As IOL Sport reported last week, Amorim had employed a new 3-4-3 formation and would only add to the time it would take before United can settle he explained.
"Next year in the same stage we'll be here with the same problems," Amorim said.
"Or we start now, we risk a little bit, we suffer a little bit and in the next year we will be better at this point. So we have to risk it a little bit."