Christian Eriksen has hailed Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim and offered optimism that the club is going in the right direction under his stewardship. However, the experienced midfielder won't be playing a part in Amorim's reign beyond this season ahead of his contract expiry in the summer.
Eriksen made a rare start in Sunday's 1-1 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League, which United left feeling they should've won. The hosts bored the Old Trafford crowd with a laboured first-half display before Bruno Fernandes' free-kick set the crowd alight on the brink of the interval. United were much improved after the break and were denied three precious points by an inspired David Raya performance.
Eriksen has reflected positively on the display, particularly after opening the scoring, and backed Amorim, despite his tough start to life in charge.
"The goal helped us before half-time to get a bit more belief and trust ourselves. In the second half, with the chances we had, we should have been 2-0 up," Eriksen said.
"The manager has come in with new ideas. He's a very honest guy, straightforward, and we're just trying to adapt and get into the system and the habits in his style of play. He's a good manager.
"With a bit more belief like we had in the second half, we could create chances, commit more people offensively and then we got a few chances."
Eriksen has branded Thursday's Europa League clash against Real Sociedad as "massive" for United, marking it as a decisive moment for the club's ambitions.
United's season pivots on the second-leg result at Old Trafford, following an evenly matched 1-1 draw in Spain last week.
The Red Devils - languishing in 14th in the Premier League and out of both domestic cup competitions - now see the Europa League as their final chance at success in a campaign marred by turmoil.
The importance of a victory extends beyond silverware, with Eriksen pointing out the necessity for European football next season, and the significant financial incentives tied to Champions League qualification.
He declared: "It's massive. We know the pressure. We know the situation we are in.
"To get into Europe next season, we have to go through the Europa League, so we know there's a lot of pressure on that game.
"But it also comes with being at this club. You play for trophies, so we have to play well to go through.
"It [Europe] is where we belong, but we don't belong in the lower half of the Premier League either, so it's a bit in between.
"We'll try to do our best to get up the league, because we're not in a position we want to be in. In terms of the Premier League, we still need to get a lot of points to go higher. It's not fun [looking at the table].
"We want to be higher. We're at Manchester United, so we have to be higher. But in the end, the ball is still rolling on the pitch, so we have to just focus on the football.
"Hopefully, at the end of the season, when we look at the table, we end up higher and we'll forget about this. But at the moment, we have to fight for it."
This article was first published on Mirror Sport