Ruben Amorim tells Man Utd not to expect miracles as new coach outlines why his task at Old Trafford is 'really hard'

The Portuguese has been hired as Erik ten Hag's successor on the strength of his incredible record with Sporting CP, where he implemented an attacking style of play with a 3-4-3 formation. But he will have limited training sessions with his new side, who will play 11 matches in the next five-and-a-half weeks.

"It's so much harder to come to the team in the middle of the season because you have to get to know the players during the games, you are talking about no national team periods to work with the players, it's just games," Amorim told a press conference. "It depends: if you are winning it's a lot of fun, having a lot of games, trying to making changes tactically and winning games. But if you are losing you don't have time in training to work out everything you want to work on. To improve a team training is is the most important aspect. Players can recover very fast but if you don't make any exercise with that it's really hard to do that in video or recovery training sessions. It's really hard but we'll try to find ways to cope with that."

Amorim has been praised for having a special connection with his players but he said he will not be afraid of taking big decisions. He added: "I can be ruthless when I have to be. If you think as a team I will be the nicest guy you will ever see, if there is someone just thinking about himself, I will be a different person. I'm not that type of guy that wants to show he is the boss. They will feel it in the small details, I can be the smiling one but when we have a job to do I will be a different person. They understand that."

Amorim said he would remind his players of United's rich history and the need to return to their former heights although he said he would take a different approach to Sir Alex Ferguson, the last manager to win a Premier League title with the Red Devils.

"I'm always paying attention to those details, trying to focusing the players on the history of the club not the recent history," he said. "We have to be very demanding, this is a club that has to win things, we have to show that to our players. But it's a different time. I cannot be the same guy that Alex Ferguson was, it's a different time and I need to have a different approach but I can also be demanding with that different approach."

The coach's first game is away to Ipswich Town on Sunday while he will make his Old Trafford bow on Thursday in the Europa League against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt. United are currently 12th in the Premier League, seven points behind the top four.