Ruben Amorim says United star “moves away from where he’s supposed to be” on the pitch

Ruben Amorim has been talking about Rasmus Hojlund’s goal drought and loss of form at Manchester United.

In the embargoed section of the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game against Ipswich, Amorim said:

“I think it’s clear, we as a team we are not helping Rasmus. We don’t create a lot of chances. We have a lack of threat and you can feel it in the games.

“Sometimes we are in the final third but you don’t feel like we are a very dangerous team, and you feel it also when we are defending a little bit more low, sometimes the opponent are not afraid of transitions.

“So we are not helping the strikers.

“I think Rasmus [Hojlund] has a lot of potential. If we improve the way we play the game he will have more opportunities to score. He came here very young and when you’re very young to be the No 9 and play all the time, sometimes it’s hard. It’s everything together. The context.

“We have to look at Rasmus as a player. He has the pace, he has the technique, he’s scored some goals that are really hard to score.

“Sometimes he doesn’t choose the better run. Sometimes he’s so anxious to touch the ball because he passes long minutes without the ball, and he moves away from the goal where he’s supposed to be, especially in the final third.”

The reporter asked if Hojlund shows he can be a lethal finisher in training.

“Yes,” Amorim replied emphatically. “I see it in training, he has the ability, it’s more a team thing than a Rasmus thing. If we improve, he will.”

The boss was also asked about Luke Shaw and when he would return to action.

“No, no [I don’t know when he’ll be back]. He’s doing his rehab, but we don’t have a date for him yet.”

Asked if it was the same situation with Mason Mount, he replied “Not specifically, no. I think he’s closer than Luke Shaw, but we don’t have a specific date for return.”

The next question was whether Amorim felt his players were “running like mad dogs” as he had asked for a few months previously.

“I think they’ve improved, the data shows that, but we can do much better.

“Sometimes the confidence is like they train very well, but in the game they are not so confident, it’s hard in certain moments so they can’t do [what they do in training].”

On the redundancies announced this week, Amorim was asked how staff and fans can have confidence things will change.

“I think we have to show. It’s easy for me to be here and say all the pretty stuff. We have to improve recruitment, it’s crucial, we have to make the team better.

“We have to be in Europe and not in our position during the season, and that’s all. They are paying the price for our lack of success and I can say nothing now to convince the fans and staff things will get better.”

Amorim was also asked about Patrick Dorgu’s start at the club.

“I’m happy with Patrick because he has the abilities we look for, he has the physicality, the technique, he has a lot to improve but you can see in the difficult moment you can see good things in Patrick.”

On the pressure the players are feeling, Amorim said:

“They are in a bubble, they don’t feel that pressure [of people losing their job]. But every time we lose, when they don’t perform, there’s a lot of people on social media putting a lot of pressure, and then they go to the pitch and the training and try to to fix things not in a good way, they think too much, they suffer a different pressure. Things said by former players, they take it so personal.”

Again on the redundancies, he added.

“I’m focused on my job. If you look at our team, you’ll see that we have a lot of things to improve in my department. So I’m focused on improving my performance within the club. We have a lot of people evaluating in all departments the best ones who should stay and those who should go, so I’m just focused on my part. I have to improve my performance as manager of this club.”

Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images

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