'Mad dogs' - Ruben Amorim quotes Jose Mourinho to highlight Manchester United issues

Ruben Amorim said Manchester United need to "run like mad dogs" if they are ever going to become a credible force again as he conceded they are not "a massive team".

United's midweek defeat at Arsenal saw them plummet to 13th in the Premier League and Amorim has questioned aspects of the squad's fitness. The Portuguese said at his first press conference United "have to be better running back" and that they need to improve their "physical aspect".

Amorim has started 21 different players during his four games in charge and made six changes in each of the last three fixtures, with the rotation partly enforced by some players' returns from injury amid the trial and error process.

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Former United manager Jose Mourinho said after a 2-2 draw with Southampton in December 2018 that they "don’t have many, with all the respect, mad dogs – the ones who bite the ball all the time and press all the time". His compatriot used the same phrase to describe the intensity the current United need to operate at.

"It’s impossible to win the Premier League without a team like that, that fights for every moment, runs back, runs forward, it’s impossible to win," Amorim said. "If we want to win we have to do it.

"Even with the best starting XI on the planet, without running they will not win nothing. So that is very clear. If we want to win the Premier League we have to run like mad dogs. If not, we are not going to!

"What I see is that they’re making an effort and there’s a lot of room to improve. Changing that thing you can sometimes say is simple because it’s just running but it’s something in the head of the players. We are doing that, they know it. Let’s see in a few months what is the moment of the players.

"We’re a massive club but we’re not a massive team and we know it, so it is no problem to say it. We want to improve, we are in a different moment from Arsenal.

"But you could feel it during the game, I think we have to believe more. We weren’t dominant in the game but we had control. Not so many chances for Arsenal, of course a lot of set pieces, but we were okay, especially in the first half.

"You could feel that there’s so much to do, we need to be better in the final third, they had more danger. I felt Arsenal had problems to block our build up but then when they defended the goal it was quite comfortable for them so we are learning and trying to improve.

"This club has glories in the past. Our players have to understand that it’s a very difficult position. We’re not one of the best teams in the league and we have to say and think that clearly but our past, our club, is maybe the best one in the league.

"So here we have a problem and we have to focus on the little things and little details. If you think everything will be a problem then think about the small details and then we will improve it as a team."

Amorim revealed last week some players who have not recently recovered from injury had to come off in games after 60 or 70 minutes. As far back as David Moyes's tenure, new United managers have raised concerns about United's running stats.

Moyes irked the dressing room by promising the 2013 title winners he would "make them run more", Louis van Gaal was publicly critical of Luke Shaw's fitness, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer demanded the team be "the hardest-working" in the league and Erik ten Hag was critical of United's standards for sleep, recovery and nutrition.

Bruno Fernandes has only missed two matches through injury during his whole United career and Diogo Dalot has been absent for a mere eight games with a hamstring problem since he returned from a season-long loan at AC Milan in summer 2021.

Dalot was recovering from a meniscus injury when he joined United in 2018 and the Portuguese endured two injury-laden years before he was loaned to Milan. Amorim admitted United lack players as durable as Fernandes.

"The problem to be fit enough is if they can cope with that," Amorim opined, "If they are used to it in training they will do that in games, they’re professional athletes they can improve this. You cannot be faster but you can run more in training and we have to improve in training and then improve in games they will be able to do it.

"Every coach has a different way of pressing, some use more of a low block, some coaches want to press higher and that changes the load of the players during the game. They will be able to do it if they do it in every single game and every single training.

"Mason Mount, because they came from injury and don’t have a lot of training during the week (he came off at Arsenal). Sometimes they are recovering and if they don’t play after the game they can’t run a lot during training because in two days they will have a game and can be used. So it’s really tricky in this moment to cope with everything.

"But they’re improving. They will cope, they’re professional athletes and they will improve in that aspect and then you have something. Bruno can recover really fast. Diogo Dalot, if I remember in the past, he had the same problems with injuries, they have to keep a lot of weeks or months without an injury then it will be easy for them."