Ruben Amorim says Manchester United are a massive club but not a massive team as they continue to try to turn around a group that must “run like mad dogs” if they are to become winners. A poor start to Erik ten Hag’s third season in charge last month led the Red Devils to turn to the 39-year-old, who immediately boosted morale after swapping Sporting for Old Trafford. Amorim followed a draw at Ipswich in their opening game with entertaining wins over Bodo/Glimt and Everton, but they repeatedly tried to manage expectations. The Portuguese said United would “suffer for a long time” and then warned a “storm would come” ahead of Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Arsenal – a reality check before hosting Nottingham Forest on Saturday. “I think it’s very clear,” Amorim said of the scope of the work. “We are a huge club, but we are not a huge team, and we know that. It’s not a problem to say it. “So we want to improve, we are in a different moment from Arsenal, but it was felt during the match. “I think we have to believe in it more because we were not dominant in the game, but we had control in the game. “Not so many chances for Arsenal – of course a lot of set pieces – but we were good, especially in the first half. We had some good things then. , but we felt that there were so many things to do. “We have to be better in the final third, we have to create more danger, they have to feel it. “I felt Arsenal were struggling to block our progress, but when they defended the goal it was. was pretty comfortable for them, so we’re learning those things and trying to improve in two days.” United’s problems mean they go into the weekend 13th in the Premier League table – quite a spectacle for fans ‘a club which has won an English record 20 titles champion. Asked if perceptions around the club needed to change, Amorim replied: “It won’t change because this club has glories in the past. “Our players have to understand that it’s a very difficult position, so we are not the best teams in the league, and we have to say it and mean it clearly. “But our past, our club is perhaps the best in the league, so we have a problem here, but we have to focus on the little things, the little details. “If you think about everything, it will be a problem. Let’s focus on the small details and then improve it as a team. Amorim had little time to work on such details, having started during an international break followed by a relentless winter schedule. Saturday’s home game against Forest was United’s third of nine matches in December and came with a demand for effort as well as technical quality. “It’s impossible to win the Premier League without a team like that, which goes backwards and forwards at every moment,” Amorim said. “It’s impossible to win. If you want to win, we have to. “Even with the best starting XI on the planet not showing up, they won’t win anything, so that’s very clear. “If we want to win the Premier League we have to run like mad dogs. Otherwise we won’t win. » Interestingly, Amorim’s comments come six years after his compatriot Jose Mourinho spoke of United’s lack of “mad dogs” following the December draw at Southampton. “The system doesn’t matter,” the former United manager said. “It has to do with the characteristics of the players and we don’t have a lot of, with all due respect, mad dogs – the ones that bite the ball all the time and press all the time. We don’t have a lot of those with this Amorim hopes he doesn’t feel the same way after facing Forest, having previously said he needs to improve the “physical aspect of the team.” ‘They can deal with this,’ said United’s head coach. “If they’re used to doing that in training, they’ll do it in matches. “So they’re professional athletes, you can’t improve on that. , but you can run more with training We are on this path.