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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has the chance to act on his pledge that he will need to win a trophy in his first season in charge at Old Trafford in order to set the club up for long term success.
United travel to the Emirates to face an Arsenal side that have endured a difficult week, with Mikel Arteta’s side being held to a draw away at Brighton in the last league match, as well as suffering a 2-0 defeat at home in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie against Newcastle United.
In the Portuguese’s first United press conference upon joining the club in November, Amorim stated that he will have to earn his chance to be afforded time to rebuild an inconsistent and demoralised United side through achieving short team success.
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He said: “I think we will need more time because if you look to the other clubs that are winning this league, they are doing this process for a long time, but they are winning, that is why they have time to do this project.”
After being knocked out of the League Cup at the quarter-final stage in December, the number of cup competitions that the new head coach can win has dropped to two, with the FA Cup and the Europa League being the remaining opportunities to make good on the goal that he set at the start of his United tenure.
Amorim will have two years remaining on his United contract at the end of this season, however he believes the overall project will take longer than this: “I understand that we will need more than two-and-a-half years, we will have to win something somewhere,” and defeating the Gunners on Sunday would set United up for solid start in the effort to defend their FA Cup title that they won last season.
His side have been inconsistent in the months following his first game at the helm and they must hit a solid run of form to back up the coach’s words from his first week at the club, as United “have to win games, to win time, to then win titles,” in order to help the Portuguese create a breeding ground for success.
United must learn from their shortcomings last time out at the Emirates, where they failed to contain Arsenal’s attacking threat that they consistently pose from set pieces, conceding two goals from corners as a result of poor defending in the penalty area.
If United win the tie on Sunday, they will build on the solid result achieved in their last game at Anfield, as well as eliminating one of the other rival contenders for this years FA Cup in the process.