Man Utd To Field Weakened Teams Despite Roy Keane Calling It A ‘disgrace’

Ruben Amorim has made his priorities for the remainder of the season clear - Getty Images/Visionhaus

Ruben Amorim has admitted Manchester United fully deserve Roy Keane’s scathing criticism but that it will not stop him from prioritising the Europa League over the Premier League.

Amorim has vowed to continue fielding weakened teams in the Premier League in order to “protect” his key players for the Europa League final against Spurs in Bilbao on Wednesday week.

The tactic has drawn withering criticism from former United captain Keane, who claimed it was an “absolute disgrace” they were “writing off” league matches, as did fellow former United midfielder Paul Scholes.

But Amorim says he is prepared to put all his eggs in one basket given the Europa League – which offers the prospect of both silverware and Champions League qualification – represents their only hope of salvaging something from a shambolic season.

Roy Keane has lambasted Amorim for picking weakened teams in the Premier League - Reuters/David Klein

“We cannot save anything from the Premier League,” the United head coach said ahead of his side’s league game at home to West Ham on Sunday.

“They will fight for the place in the final in these [last Premier League] games. I think [in the 4-3 defeat] against Brentford we had some mistakes. I felt that some of our players were thinking about this game [against Athletic Club] so we have to manage that.

“We are trying to do our best but I agree we can do better. I don’t have anything to say about the criticism because we deserve it. If we cannot accept everything [said about us] in this kind of season, I think we are in the wrong business.

“I fully acknowledge that and I agree with all the critics. But in this moment I think it’s really clear – we have to be smart and we have to take a risk.

“We have to take the risk to get a lot of critics from everybody because the standards of Roy Keane and all these guys are really high.

“But I have to make a choice – what is the best for the club, not what is the best for me. I make a choice. In this moment I’m going to try to save all the players because it’s really important for us to win the final.”

Amorim says the priority has to be the Europa League - Getty Images/Alex Livesey

United will drop to 17th place in the table if West Ham, who currently occupy that position, beat them at Old Trafford and Spurs claim at least a point at home to Crystal Palace.

With each Premier League position being worth around £3.1m in merit payments, the prospect of finishing so low would be humiliating but also costly financially.

However, qualifying for the Champions League could be worth up to £100m for United and mean the club avoid a £10m penalty under the terms of their kit deal with Adidas and Amorim says the circumstances have left him with little choice but to prioritise Europe.

“What I will protect is the players that can get an injury,” he said. “For example, Bruno [Fernandes] or in the last [league] game before Tottenham [against] Chelsea but we moved the game to the Friday so we will have time to recover.

“We want to be competitive also in the Premier League. Bruno doesn’t have the problem of any injury but Harry [Maguire] has. So we will have to manage that, but they have to play [some part] and it’s better to play than to stay out.

“Some players we have some doubts that they will recover … and we have to manage that, not to take the risk and to have big issues. I will try to manage everything. They don’t need a lot of load now so the trainings are going to be soft in that department. But of course the players will push each other.”

Full-strength Asia tour despite player-welfare concerns

The club plan to take a full-strength squad to south-east Asia for their post-season tour even though it will mean players not returning to England until less than 48 hours before the start of the international break.

United are due to fly to Malaysia immediately after their final Premier League game at home to Aston Villa on May 25 for the start of a seven-day, 14,000 mile round trip to the Far East.

Amorim’s side will play a south-east Asian all-star team in Kuala Lumpur on May 28 before taking on a Hong Kong XI in Hong Kong two days later, after which they will return to the UK.

United are expected to earn at least £8 million from the tour, which would largely offset a £10 million penalty that will be owed to kit supplier Adidas should they lose to Spurs in the Europa League final on May 21 and, by extension, fail to qualify for the Champions League.

But the tour has raised questions around player burnout and will leave United’s international stars facing a very tight turnaround before they are due to meet up with their respective countries for World Cup qualifiers and friendly matches in June.

United’s squad are not due back in the UK until May 31 but England are due to start training on June 2 and may be asked to meet the day before. Thomas Tuchel has scheduled a warm-weather training camp in Barcelona ahead of England’s World Cup qualifier away to Andorra on June 7.

Three days later, they are scheduled to play Senegal in a friendly at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. Any of Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount could possibly be involved in Tuchel’s squad.

The situation is even more problematic for United’s Portugal representatives, Bruno Fernandes and – should he have returned from injury in time – Diogo Dalot. Portugal are due to play Germany in the Uefa Nations League semi-finals on June 4.

Bruno Fernandes will likely be in action for Portugal soon after returning from Man Utd’s tour of Asia - Getty Images/Franck Fife

Nonetheless, Amorim insisted United’s players can have few complaints after the season they have produced and that, as well as offering an opportunity to connect with the club’s fans in Asia, the tour was also a chance to build relations with staff after a brutal year of cost-cutting and job losses.

“Yes, I was consulted [about the tour],” he said. “We cannot say nothing after this season. So we need to help the club, because the club wins some money.

“We are going to connect with our fans around the world and that is important, especially when we lose and we disappoint our supporters during this tough season.

“So I think it’s the least we can do. And we are going to take all the team, young kids also, we’ll have the staff there. We have a lot of changes in the staff, so we are trying to build something as a family. I think it’s also a good thing.”

United will embark on a pre-season tour of the US in July and August when they will take part in the Premier League summer series and play games in Chicago, New Jersey and Atlanta.