Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim was unhappy with his team when he spoke after the Everton defeat earlier in the week.
Ruben Amorim has admitted that he was “angry” when he said he was “afraid of returning” to the feeling of last season following Manchester United’s shocking defeat to Everton. Amorim was named manager of the month for October in the Premier League, but his side have started November with two draws and an awful defeat to Everton at Old Trafford.
The Toffees had 10 men for 77 minutes, but they still claimed three points. Amorim set alarm bells ringing during his post-match press conference when he said: “I feel afraid of returning this feeling of last season.” When asked about that quote four days later, Amorim explained: “We just need not to think so far ahead. I said that because losing, I always have that feeling of frustration, being angry all the time, and I don’t want to have that feeling. My life is so much harder when I have that feeling.
“The same thing I said when we were winning – that is in the past. And you guys were trying to push more for me, and I always said the same thing. That is in the past, everything can change. I will say the same thing. We didn’t win the last one, which is a problem for a big club, so let’s win the next one. It will be really tough but let’s go.”
Amorim thought United were ‘soft’ against Everton. “It depends on the way you play the game, some teams play with four central defenders,” he added, initially discussing the team’s defensive record. “I play with three, one of them is Luke Shaw, sometimes we play with Nouss and Luke Shaw. We play with one centre back if we play with Amad at wing-back. He is not a wing-back, he is a winger.
“So it depends on how you see things. Then if you understand all the data, we have some results of not getting a lot of teams in some games to get in the final third, but we are being really soft near the box. So we need to improve that, especially in the last games, like against Nottingham.
“We took a lot of crosses. We didn’t press well in that moment. Against Everton, of course they had 10 men, we cannot suffer a goal and we suffered a goal with their only shot on target. Things can change the way you see things, but of course we have to improve a lot of things.
“We need to close our goals, because we are scoring goals – not in the last one. I think it’s an issue not about the defenders, it’s about the team and the way we feel the danger near our box.”
He added: “When I say soft, it’s the goal of Everton. We are there, near the box, we have more guys than Everton, we should be better and more strong on the duels.
“Crystal Palace are really strong with the duels every time one against one, they are really strong, so if we need to take something from our opponent, we need to be strong on that also.”
Amorim delved into the goals United have conceded this season, saying: “If you think, for me, it’s not just the numbers, it’s Nottingham Forest, to suffer two goals in two minutes after half-time, that is the concern.
“You are controlling the game against Tottenham and you have the same amount of guys when they score. We are in a good position, but we need to be better and more aggressive, so that is my biggest concern.
“It’s not just the numbers, it’s the way you see the game. We should have more points and the narrative should be different. Imagine if we’d won the game against Everton? The conversation would be . . . You’d be here asking me about top four. It was one game, one shot on goal, so we need to understand this club is different to any other club. Let’s do everything to avoid this.”
2025-11-30 05:00:00
