By Grimsby Town

Copyright skysports

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has played down the significance of a meeting with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe at the club’s training ground this week, insisting their talks were “normal”.

Ratcliffe was at Carrington to meet with the under-pressure head coach ahead of Sunday’s game against Chelsea, live on Sky Sports, with Amorim joking that he was there to offer him a new deal.

“New contract, he was offering me a new contract,” Amorim said in his press conference when asked about Ratcliffe’s visit.

“No, it’s normal things, just to show the support, explaining that it’s a long project. He said many times, ‘This is my third season.’ For me, it’s not. But normal things.

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“I spoke with him, with [CEO] Omar [Berrrada], with [director of football] Jason [Wilcox], just trying to see all the data around the team.

“So, a normal meeting, and we had several, but in this moment, it’s normal that people pay attention to that.”

Amorim is under scrutiny having only won one of Manchester United’s first four games of the season and also been knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the second round by Grimsby Town.

“This is football and this is the club with more pressure, maybe, than any in the world, but we want to win,” he said.

Last weekend’s 3-0 loss to rivals Manchester City left Amorim’s side 14th in the Premier League table, only one place above last season’s club-record low finishing position.

The 40-year-old insists he sees improvement in their performances but admits they need to improve at both ends of the pitch.

“Last year I was very critical of the way we played,” Amorim added. “I think we are playing well until the boxes, defending and attacking.

“We need to be more aggressive in the boxes. We need to be more clinical. The rest I think we are improving compared to last year. We are in a better place.

“But we need to win. We lost against Arsenal and Man City. Here, losing, especially in the beginning after last season, is a problem.”

Amorim has had a free week with his players to prepare for Sunday’s game against Chelsea at Old Trafford on the training pitch and says they have focused their efforts on being more effective in the boxes.

“We used the time to analyse the last game and the next game, and to prepare different things,” he said. “We are playing well until we reach the boxes.

“We need to be more clinical. The number of shots and the xG are good, but if you don’t score, it doesn’t matter.

“The way we suffered the goals, we can avoid that. We are being naive, we need to be more aggressive in order to win games.

“We have to maintain the way we’re playing and improving in our box and the opposition’s box – that was the focus of the week. Especially against Chelsea, when they cross, they are the side with the most players in the box.”

The Manchester United boss confirmed he will be able to call on Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount against Chelsea but Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot are unavailable.

Amorim bemoaned the absence of Martinez, who is edging towards a return to fitness having not featured since suffering a knee injury in February.

“When you recover from that injury, you have time where you recover a lot of things fast and then there is a boring part where it looks like you don’t go to the next step,” he said.

“We’ve missed him a lot. Especially in this moment, we miss his aggression in everything he does. But he’s always there, in every meeting and when he finishes he stays to watch training.

“We need him in this team.”