Noussair Mazraoui says Manchester United's players know they should be higher up the table(Image: Manchester United via Getty Imag)

Ruben Amorim's first job at Man Utd outlined as feelings in dressing room clear

Ruben Amorim takes over at Manchester United on Monday and Noussair Mazraoui has detailed the first task facing the new Red Devils boss when he arrives at Carrington

by · The Mirror

Noussair Mazraoui has underlined the scale of the task facing Ruben Amorim, claiming Manchester United must climb the table and fast.

United are languishing in 13th in the Premier League with just 12 points, having made their worst start to a season since 1986 when Ron Atkinson was sacked to make way for Sir Alex Ferguson. United desperately hope Amorim, who will officially succeed Erik ten Hag as manager on Monday, can lead them back to glory like Ferguson did all those years ago.

Their tally of nine goals is the third worst in the Premier League and their lowest at this point of a campaign since 1973 whey they were relegated. Mazraoui pulled no punches when he assessed United’s start and insists they have too much quality to be in the bottom half of the table.

“If you look at the table, where we are now, you cannot say that’s where we belong,” the Moroccan star told MUTV. “Everybody knows that. We know that.

“We have to step up and get away from there really, really fast. That’s just not us, you saw that against Chelsea. We have too much quality to be there in this position.”

Mazraoui insisted United showed what they are capable of in caretaker boss Ruud van Nistelrooy’s second game in charge as they pushed Chelsea hard before drawing. He insists there were positive signs and he felt United did enough to win.

“We fought really hard,” he said. “But, eventually, if you look at the game and the chances we created, we deserved to win.” Scoring is United’s biggest issue and Alejandro Garnacho is their top marksman in the Premier League with just two, while strikers Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund have one each. Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for United, insists they will come good and says the team are creating chances, which is the most important factor.

“In the last games we’ve played, we lost some points when we didn’t convert our chances,” he said. “The good thing always is, and the way I think, when you create a lot throughout the season, so in that sense I’m not too worried. When the players get in the flow of things, results will come, confidence will grow and the goals will come.”

Van Nistelrooy also defended Hojlund and insists the Denmark striker has an important role to play. “Chelsea like to press the opponents very high on the pitch, so we have to be clever with that, how we play out, where is the free man and how can we use the space in behind,” he said.

“Rasmus is good at that. He will time his runs and he will use the space that they leave in their backs, so we will see how it works.”

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