FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Sporting CP v Casa Pia - Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal - October 5, 2024 Sporting CP coach Ruben Amorim REUTERS/Pedro Rocha/File Photo
(Reuters) - Ruben Amorim's first task as Manchester United manager will be to instil a culture and sense of unity in the team and he hopes fans will see the seed of a new identity when they play Ipswich Town next Sunday.
The 39-year-old Portuguese -- referred to as "the poet" by compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo -- is looking to turn around a poor start to the season with United lying 14th in the Premier League table when manager Erik ten Hag was sacked last month.
"I want to say beautiful things to you, but I'm really honest," Amorim told Manchester United club media on Friday.
"What I can say is that you will see an idea. You could like it or not, but you will see an idea. You will see positioning. You will see something. Something that we want to reach that kind of level."
Amorim, who will have only two training sessions with the team before games resume after the international break, said instilling a culture was as important as tactics and formations.
"A lot of people talk about the 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 and all that stuff," he said. "But when I think as a player or a team mate of Manchester United, it's not a system of formation, it's the character of the players, the way they see the club. So we have to focus on that before the everything of how we play, how we press.
"The most important thing for me at this moment is to create the principles, the identity and the character that we had in the past."
Amorim has been credited with having a charisma that Ten Hag lacked, while United captain Bruno Fernandes praised the coach's ability to connect with players, saying that was obvious in the outpouring of emotion from Sporting players after it was announced he was leaving.
"It's a funny thing because I like to speak, not too much, but when I speak, I think I speak from the heart," he said.
Amorim said he was drawn to the job both because of the passion of the fans and the club's history.
His spell at Sporting was a huge success story.
The Lisbon-based club went almost 20 years without a Primeira Liga title before winning it under him in 2021 and 2024. His last game as manager was the team's 11th successive win, putting them on course for their first back-to-back league crowns since the 1950s.
"I think all the people are hungry for success and I feel that this is the place that I want to be also because of that, because you can be part of something special," Amorim said.
"But the first reason (for taking the job) is because it is a club with a great history."
Amorim's first game at Old Trafford will be against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League on Nov. 28 and United's next home league game is on Dec. 1 against Everton.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Ed Osmond)
