Amorim says he will be ‘judged on the place we finish’ at Manchester United

Ruben Amorim has said he will be judged on Manchester United’s finishing position after Sunday’s 4-0 defeat of Everton lifted them to 19 points, four behind Brighton in the final Champions League berth.

Two goals each from Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee gave the Portuguese victory in his first home league match and afterwards he was asked if Champions League qualification is realistic.

Related: Rashford and Zirkzee double up as Manchester United dismantle Everton

“I will be judged [on] the place that we finish. If I said no you will say that I cannot be a Manchester United manager,” said the 39-year-old. “I want to be honest with our fans – so let’s focus on the performance, not the results. Let’s focus just on the next game and look at the performance. Thursday [against Bodø/Glimt] it was 3-2, but I think we deserved more. Today was 4-0 – but I think Everton deserved [more]. So let’s focus on the performance.”

On Friday Amorim said that Rashford has to really want to improve. He was asked if the display against Everton was an example. “Yeah. He can do so much,” said the manager. “He has to continue to improve, he has the ability to do it and he has already proved that. But he can play so much better, like the other guys, so it was a good performance. Tomorrow he has to recover and start thinking about Arsenal [on Wednesday].”

Zirkzee’s performance came after the striker had previously struggled for form. “First thing – I need all the players to cope with all the games and he is one of them,” said Amorim. “I just try to help my players, put them in a good position for their characteristics.”

Amorim also explained why Zirkzee was preferred ahead of Rasmus Højlund, who scored twice against Bodø/Glimt. “It would have been really hard for Rasmus to fight with the two centre-backs of Everton so we tried to push them to a position they are not so comfortable with,” he said. “Josh did a great job, scored two goals which is always important for the confidence, and more important than that is the performance and how he fought in every situation. It was a good day for him and our team.”