Ruben Amorim has acknowledged he and the first team must shoulder the blame for Manchester United’s failings as a football club that have resulted in swathes of employees being made redundant.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the minority owner, is set to remove a further 200 staff roles at Old Trafford as part of cost-cutting exercises to address years of financial mismanagement and put them back on a firmer footing.

Related: Manchester United likely to slash scouting network in next round of redundancies

Performances on the pitch are intrinsically linked with finances at major clubs and United’s struggles in the league and failure to qualify for the Champions League last season added to their problems, exacerbated by a track record of poor recruitment.

Indeed, Amorim’s problems are mounting with Amad Diallo to miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury picked up in training. The setback is likely to mean a lengthy lay-off for the Ivory Coast International whose contribution has been signficant of late, scoring six goals in the last 14 games. Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer also picked up injuries in training this week, leaving Amorim with scarce options in midfield.

Amorim has struggled to turn the ship around and United travel to Tottenham on Sunday, a fixture that started the weekend as 14th v 13th and with a combined total of five wins between them in their past 22 league games.

Asked if poor morale among staff at the club was affecting the team, Amorim said: “I think it’s really important for us in the first team, coaches and players, to not ignore that. People are losing their jobs so we have to acknowledge that and the biggest problem is the football, because we spend the money, we are not winning, we are not in Champions League, so the revenues are not the same.

“We spent a lot of money in the past and now we have to be careful with the finances. We cannot rebuild the team the way we would like. People are losing their jobs, of course it’s hard to have that feeling of people safe in their job and it affects the environment. We cannot ignore, we acknowledge that problem and I want to say that the responsibility is the first team.

“We have to change that. The first part, what we should do is to win at Tottenham. That is the small step to try to help these people, to try not to push the prices of the tickets higher. We are responsible for that.”

After Ratcliffe’s investment, 250 employees left United in an original round of redundancies last autumn and winter and now the co-owner is seeking to further reduce staffing levels.

The club’s financial problems are making it difficult to plan for the long term in key areas such as player recruitment. The 20-year-old Patrick Dorgu was the only winter arrival, costing an initial £25.2m. There is an agreement that United will need to sell players before they can invest in new ones that will fit Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation.

The head coach has brought the same strategy that served him well at Sporting, but those he inherited at Old Trafford are yet to thrive in the system. “I think it can be a weakness in the moment,” Amorim said of sticking to his principles. “But then you believe in one thing or another and you have to stick with that. I feel that we focus a lot on the system but the way we want to play the system is completely different than what we are doing at the moment. We are trying to improve.”

United have backed Amorim’s methods, showing faith in his carefully constructed philosophy. Time will be required when it comes to an improvement in performance and results as the Portuguese seeks to find a coherent team to play how he wants.