Ruben Amorim has made some honest comments about what he has found at Man Utd and Diogo Dalot has revealed what the players are making of it.
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Diogo Dalot and Ruben Amorim
Diogo Dalot is hurting at seeing Ruben Amorim suffer so much at United this season
Ruben Amorim's brutal honesty about Manchester United's dismal season is turning the Old Trafford dressing room into a more emotional and vulnerable environment, according to defensive stalwart Diogo Dalot.
The Portuguese head coach hasn't sugar-coated United's woes since he arrived. A record of just six wins in 26 Premier League games highlights the depth of the club's domestic struggles.
In January, he branded this the worst United side in history, and after the club's defeat to West Ham a week ago, he didn't hold back in revealing his own concerns and the fear that he could be sacked if he can't turn the club's fortunes around quickly.
That isn't in danger of happening, with Amorim maintaining the support of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who has someone who also shoots from the hip and admires Amorim's honest appraisals. But Dalot said seeing the 40-year-old so clearly suffering was hurting the players, while also encouraging them to show how much it is hurting them as individuals.
"Personally, it hurts a lot, especially not being able to be on the pitch, it hurts even more," said Dalot. "But it is just something he is really honest about.
"He doesn’t hide his emotions. He doesn’t hide the type of communication he wants to express. And that makes him an honest guy, an honest person.
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"That is really hard nowadays to find, managers and players that don’t go through what you are supposed to say or are supposed to feel. It just becomes natural. And I think being and seeing him like that, it makes you want to be exactly like that. If it hurts you, it is a good sign because you want to change things."
Amorim has taken the blame for United's woes this season on his own shoulders, constantly placing his own job in the spotlight and taking responsibility for the run of results.
But he did say last week that he felt there was a lack of urgency in Premier League fixtures and appeared to hint that players didn't fear losing enough and were starting to accept defeats, so regularly have they arrived this season.
"Even if I don’t feel like that, it still hurts to say because he is speaking about my team, my teammates, my club," said Dalot. "I don’t want to hear my manager and anybody around the club feeling like that.
"So what can I do to change that? That is what I focus on the most. I try to evolve as many team-mates as many people as I can into the same energy and then you have to fight. It is obviously something the club will address, the players have to address also. We have to look at ourselves and see what can I change to be better and try to get in the same pattern everyone should be."
Dalot talks warmly about his fellow Portuguese and the attitude and approach he has brought to the job, but he insists he does have the edge and the anger required to succeed in the Old Trafford hot seat.
"Don’t get me wrong, he is a nice guy, but when he has to give a stick to everybody, he gives a stick. He isn’t afraid to say what he thinks," he said.
"I think you saw that since he came that he has his own ideas, he will not change for anybody. Because he thinks he is best for the clu,b and I can guarantee you it’s the best for the club. It will take a little bit of time.
"We see him as he is. When he is happy, he is happy; when he is angry he makes sure everybody knows he is angry. We just have to keep building because I believe together we will do great things.
"Everybody made a headline when he came about the big storm we needed to go through but that is what we are facing now and we will get through it and people will look back to this time as something was big for the club."
Amorim put his hand into his own pocket to fund tickets and travel to Bilbao for family members of his backroom staff, a gesture Dalot said showed how much he cares.
"It shows how much he wants to keep the club united and keep everybody on the same page and how much he is willing to, in this case literally, pay to be able to everybody be together," he said.
"I think it is an amazing gesture, in my opinion. It could have been easily all the players doing it but just him by himself trying to have that relationship is something incredible."
For all of United's domestic struggles, they have impressed in Europe and travel to Bilbao this week, targeting the Europa League trophy and qualification for the Champions League.
They are unbeaten in 14 European matches and have scored 19 goals in six knockout games against Real Sociedad, Lyon, and Athletic Bilbao, but they face domestic opponents in Tottenham in the final.
Dalot is second most-used United player this season but hasn't featured for a month after picking up a hamstring injury and is in a race against time to be fit for the final.
"At this stage I have to go day by day to see how I am feeling every day but so far so good," he said.
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"It is part of the job. I wouldn’t think in these last two years [when he has played nearly every game] a time like this would arrive. After playing so many game it was a sign probably that the body needed a little bit of a rest but I am working really hard to come back as soon as possible."