Matthijs de Ligt insists Manchester United's players ‘stand behind’ beleaguered boss Ruben Amorim and deserve the blame for the club's calamitous start to the season.
Amorim's side needed a last-gasp penalty from Bruno Fernandes to beat promoted Burnley 3-2 on Saturday after twice blowing the lead at Old Trafford.
United's first Premier League win in three games this term came just days after a humiliating League Cup second round loss at fourth tier Grimsby.
Amorim had admitted after the stunning cup defeat that he sometimes thinks about quitting United and often hates his players.
With speculation still swirling about Amorim's future despite the much-needed victory over Burnley, United defender De Ligt backed his boss.
‘I think the only thing that counted was a win,’ he said. ‘Everybody saw how. We know we could have done that better, but the win was the most important thing.’
Asked if he wanted Amorim to stay, De Ligt added: ‘Yeah, of course. I mean, as a player you are responsible for the results.
‘They always speak about the manager, obviously, but I think as players we also looked at each other in the eye after Grimsby and said to each other 'guys, the performance of this week is not acceptable'.
‘It will be really, I think, bad to say that it's the manager's fault or... it's mostly us, and we know that.
‘So, yeah, obviously we still stand behind him, and he stands behind us, so we keep going like that. I think the result for today makes that feeling even more.’
De Ligt was sporting a black eye from Wednesday's battle with Grimsby, which ended in a penalty shoot-out loss after United recovered from two goals down in normal time.
De Ligt said the embarrassing result had not been discussed among the team at length because it was too painful.
‘I don't think there's much been said because everybody knows how the feeling was,’ he said.
‘I think everybody from outside could also understand what the feeling is if you lose a game like that.
‘So, yeah, it's not easy. We know that. We were really disappointed, in ourselves especially, so then to win today was I think the only cure that could a little bit help the defeat of Wednesday.’
United hardly looked a cohesive unit against Burnley, with careless defending and poor goalkeeping twice allowing the visitors to draw level.
But Fernandes' latest heroics in a United shirt kept the critics at bay heading into the international break.
Amorim will face a major test of his job security when Premier League action resumes for United at rivals Manchester City on September 14 before they host in-form Chelsea six days later.
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