Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has defended one of his underperforming players but encouraged him to stop “being anxious”.
Amorim had his 25th game in charge of Man Utd on Thursday evening as his side faced La Liga outfit Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League knockout tie. Neither side were at their best as they cancelled each other out for most of the match.
The Red Devils edged the opening half and went ahead shortly after the restart as Joshua Zirkzee ended his goal drought after being assisted by Alejandro Garnacho.
This placed Man Utd on course for victory as Real Sociedad were struggling to create clear-cut chances, but they were gifted an opportunity to equalise as Bruno Fernandes was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area.
Mikel Oyarzabal calmly converted the spot-kick as he sent Andre Onana the wrong way and this took the wind out of Man Utd’s sails as they were under pressure at the end of the match.
Orri Oskarsson missed a huge chance to win the game late on as the two sides were made to settle for a draw heading into next week’s return leg at Old Trafford.
Amorim reckoned the penalty “changed the momentum” with his players “really tired”.
“Until the penalty, we had control of the game and then the penalty changed the momentum,” Amorim said.
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“In the last 30 minutes, we were really, really tired and you could feel it in the game.
“So we take it to Old Trafford and it will be a different game. The pressure is going to be on us in that stadium and we have to be ready.
“The key will be surviving physically for Sunday (against Arsenal) and to be ready and fresh for Thursday.”
Amorim has also encouraged struggling striker Rasmus Hojlund to stop “being anxious” and to continue “trying really hard”.
“He is trying really hard. He made the runs, we know that Real Sociedad has a high line and he used his pace to win and fight,” Amorim added.
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“He has to continue playing and not be anxious.”
On Zirkzee scoring, he added: “He deserved it, he is working well and he is improving a lot of things in his game.
“He deserves this moment and he was important for us today.”
On Garnacho, he continued: “He was tired and you see it because we did a lot of transitions in the second half.
“Sometimes he was late to defend [in the second half]. I felt like he was tired to recover and do the same things.”
