Amorim will not let fine margins change Man Utd course

I get the strong feeling Ruben Amorim is wary of offering any hint of confidence from the Manchester United camp.

Having been battered and bruised by 11 months of negativity, there has been a rare sense of calm around Old Trafford for three weeks now following successive victories against Sunderland and Liverpool.

It was United club board member Sir Dave Brailsford who coined the "marginal gains" theory within cycling circles. Fine margins is another way of talking about improvement or the small differences between winning and losing.

Amorim measured with his hands the gap between Cody Gakpo's header going in at Anfield last Sunday, or going wide, which is where it eventually went.

He knows only too well that the optimism around the club this week was close to not existing.

Brighton, with six wins from eight against United and three successive victories at Old Trafford, more than virtually any other team, are capable of shoving Amorim's team back in the doldrums.

Amorim really needs to avoid that.

"If you are a manager and don't win a lot of games, people are going to doubt you," he said.

"My point of view is that we need to be clear on our path and not change so much because we win one game by 20cm."