Ruben Amorim hit the nail on the head with Manchester United problems

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Who had talk of "survival" on their Ruben Amorim bingo card just 10 games into the head coach's new reign at Manchester United? That is as desperate as things have got after four defeats in five Premier League games left United looking over their shoulders.

It felt telling that Amorim entertained a question on relegation after seeing United drop to 14th but shot down a question on European qualification. Let's be honest: United aren't going down. They are four places above the relegation zone but have an eight-point cushion and more than enough quality to ease their way clear gradually.

But finishing in the top half feels like the limit of their ambitions at the moment. They are three points behind Brighton in 10th, who play tonight, but they are playing dreadfully. There is a reason this team is sandwiched between West Ham and Everton, and the midway point of the season is approaching.

Since the start of last season, United have lost 22 of their last 56 Premier League games. That is not a small sample size. It suggests it is a team with mediocrity as its ceiling.

None of this can be pinned on Amorim. The 39-year-old has been on the job for just over a month, and there remains faith that one of the hottest coaching properties in Europe will get things right. He has just started at the worst possible time, a theme he touched on after the dismal Boxing Day defeat at Wolves.

"In this moment, we just have to survive and to win sometimes, to work on the team," he said. "We already knew it. I start this job and start with the team, the new idea of no time to train, a lot of games, tough games, we already knew it, it’s a long journey."

In answering a different question, Amorim added: "We have to work on a lot of things in our club inside the pitch, outside the pitch, so let’s focus on each game, each time and use every minute of training to improve the team.

"A lot of things (are missing), time to work, so we also have to also win games, to sell the idea to the players but if not it’s really hard."

The mention of that lack of time on the training ground is telling. United have appointed a head coach wedded to a tactical idea and appointed him to take over a squad ill-suited to playing that way. Teething troubles are to be expected.

Only time on the training ground or splashing the cash in the transfer market can fix that. Neither option is available to Amorim right now and given United's financial issues, the January window is unlikely to offer much succour.

Amorim could have had both in the summer. The more this season hits the skids, the more wasteful last summer looks. Opting to stick with Erik ten Hag hasn't just set United back six months, but potentially years.

Had Sir Jim Ratcliffe stuck with his instinct to make a managerial change, then United would have had Amorim in with a full pre-season and a £200m budget. Instead, he is shoving square pegs into round holes, and the prospect of a season without European football means there will be no war chest to fix that.

The idea now is that there is short-term pain for long-term gain under Amorim, but the way things are going and without a significant boost to the budget, that pain could last a little longer than expected.

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