Roy Keane is refusing to get ahead of himself when it comes to Ruben Amorim’s arrival as head coach at Manchester United.
The Irishman has tempered expectations on the new United man by admitting he isn’t sure whether he will be an instant success at Old Trafford.
Amorim arrived two weeks ago and took training for the first time on Monday, during the mid-November international break. He takes charge of his first game against Ipswich Town later this evening.
United fans are hoping to see some much-needed change on the pitch. Not only must results improve but the same can be said about performances for far too long. It wasn’t good enough under Erik ten Hag and that is why INEOS eventually had to make a change.
Rumours ahead of kick-off suggest Amorim will call up a 16-year-old defender to the matchday squad for his first game as United boss.
A disappointing start to the season sees United on 15 points from their opening 11 matches. Ahead of a trip to Portman Road, United sit 12th, seven points off the top four.
Roy Keane cautious over Ruben Amorim
Keane refused to get too excited about Amorim’s arrival early on. Unlike other pundits, he can be more measured in his analysis but also brutally honest at times.
“You’re always hopeful when a manager comes into United he can come in and get United back up competing at the top. It’s not quite happened the last few years,” Keane told Sky Sports, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. “I think the PR over the first week from the new manager has been good, he’s spoke well, been very positive, a lot of talk about changing systems.
“He’s a young manager, very hungry, looks like he can hopefully deal with the pressure. But being honest, nobody knows until he gets into the job properly and that’s getting games under his belt. You hope today they can come and beat Ipswich, put a marker down, get the team competing. It’s probably just more hope than anything else until he gets into the job and he sees what the real problems are.”
Amorim has only had a week to prepare his team to face Ipswich Town, but fans are expecting three points.
Only time will tell who features in his first starting eleven as head coach.
“Of course he’s only had the week and players coming back can get some sort of recovery, so you’d give him the benefit of the doubt today,” Keane added.
“But you’re still thinking with United’s quality, the new manager bounce, Ipswich struggling although they had a good win at Spurs, struggling at home.
“No matter what position United are in you’d like to think they can come to Ipswich and get a result. I think for all United’s problems it is the lack of goals. We talk about United having a lot of good, talented players but we don’t see it in terms of the goals. The goals ratio is really poor. That’s certainly an area he needs to improve, on top of all the other ones he’s got.”
Footage courtesy of Sky Sports Main Event