Christian Eriksen slams controversial Ruben Amorim remark that piled extra pressure on squad | OneFootball

Former Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen has slammed a controversial public statement issued by Ruben Amorim, blaming the head coach for piling further pressure on him and his teammates.

Amorim’s take

Amorim endured a tough start to life at United following his arrival as Erik ten Hag’s replacement in November last year.

He led United to a lowly 15th-placed finish and also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur, consequently missing out on European football entirely. As Amorim persisted with his 3-4-2-1 formation at United, the team’s form deteriorated. Under growing scrutiny, he periodically responded with defiant outbursts in defence of his methods.

In January, after a 3-1 loss at the hands of Brighton, a clearly shaken Amorim branded his side as “maybe the worst” in the 147-year history of the club.

He also turned criticism inward, blaming himself for the string of underwhelming results and admitting he was deeply embarrassed by the situation.

Amorim later expressed regret over that specific outburst. However, he has since faced fresh criticism for other incendiary statements, including one where he seemed to criticise a section of academy players as “entitled.”

Eriksen spoke to The Times and explained that the dressing room reacted poorly to Amorim’s claim that the team was perhaps the worst one ever.

Eriksen slams Amorim

Eriksen told the newspaper, “That didn’t help. Yeah, that didn’t help at all. I mean, that was not… I don’t think that helped the players at all. Some stuff you can say inside and it’s not too clever to say outside, to put extra pressure and put an extra label on the players who were already trying to do their best.”

“I don’t think that helped at all, no. Then if he’s right or wrong, whatever, but I think for us it was a bit of like, ‘Oh, here we go again. Another headline.'”

Eriksen added about the Portuguese gaffer, ” Yeah, he came in with his ideas. He tried to change things as you still see, tried to get it his way. Certain players for certain positions, for a certain style of play, that’s how he sees success. He has to change a lot because the players were not used to that system. Also, historically, United always liked a different system.”

“And yeah, he’s been very honest and also, yeah, honest with me from the beginning. Very, very, very honest, I would say.”

Eriksen however noted that despite external noise, there was unity within the club.

“It [the noise] wasn’t inside. Around the training ground and stuff, we were pretty protected, trying to feel as a family, and I think we did. But on the outside, there’s a lot of pundits, former United players, who have an opinion and also with the fans.”

“So obviously the noise outside – that puts a lot of pressure on you. From the inside, it was more just if you could shut up everything else, I think you would be able to succeed.”

On his Old Trafford spell, Eriksen remarked, “It was very special for me, I had a very, very good time at United. It was a big win to be able to come back, to prove myself at Brentford after what happened at the Euros, and then to get the chance to play at United was amazing and something I’m definitely proud of, to play as much as I did.”

He noted that to succeed at United, one needs to be mentally strong, given the weight of its history and the constant comparisons to past greats.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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