Ruben Amorim is not taking anything for granted at improved Manchester United given their surprise setbacks and less shocking struggles during his first year in the job.
Monday’s Old Trafford encounter against Everton comes on the first anniversary of his maiden game in the hotseat away to Ipswich.
Amorim oversaw a 1-1 draw at Portman Road and went on to experience more downs than ups during his first campaign, but things are now looking up with United entering the weekend seventh in the standings and unbeaten in five.
Put to the Portuguese that United only face three top-10 teams in the next 10 matches, he said: “It doesn’t matter. In our league, it doesn’t matter.
“The table it doesn’t matter as everything is so tight. That is irrelevant.
“If you know the history of our team, we never know where the difficult games are. That is completely irrelevant in the Premier League.”
A lot has changed at United since last November’s trip to Ipswich, where Marcus Rashford scored early in the 1-1 draw.
The forward is among five starters from that match who are no longer part of a squad Amorim knew even during his whirlwind first week would need major change.
“The first thinking was about thinking the environment is completely different in the Premier League and I was excited with that,” he said.
“Right away I knew we would struggle with some things. But it was that feeling of, yes, this is the best league in the world. It is maybe the best club in the world, but at the same time it is a big job and it is going to require a lot of work.”
There remains work to do but United are improved a year on, with the side preparing to return home for the first time since Oct. 25 after a pair of late 2-2 draws at Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.
Amorim believes those results show there has been a mentality shift from last season, with the side now looking more like his team.
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“I think we are showing that (improvement), but the important thing is that it doesn’t matter what we did in the recent games, we cannot forget that we started in that point to suffer a lot last year,” he said.
“We have to take that into account and to play every game like it is the last one or the first one.
“If you ask me, yes, I expect a team [now] with more control and with more dominance, playing better football and the most important thing is we are more competitive in every way.”
