Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has addressed the injuries of Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount, following the team’s triumph over Burnley.
United beat Burnley
United beat Burnley 3-2 at Old Trafford, having initially taken the lead through a Josh Cullen own goal.
Lyle Forster drew the visitors level before Bryan Mbeumo restored United’s lead immediately after.
Jaidon Anthony made it 2-2, with United subsequently given a penalty in added time after Anthony was judged to have illegally brought down Amad inside the box.
Bruno Fernandes stepped up to take the spot-kick and made no mistake despite Martin Dubravka diving the right way.
Cunha was taken off at half-time with what appeared like a hamstring injury, while Mount was withdrawn during the break and replaced by Kobbie Mainoo.
After the final whistle, Amorim issued updates on the duo while also giving his verdict on the team’s performance.
Amorim’s post-match press conference
The United head coach told reporters about the result, “I think in the end we deserved to win the game. We created a lot of chances and we should have gone into half-time with a bigger advantage. Everything in this moment…every possession near our box, they can score and we are in that moment. We chase a lot of things but we deserve and we tried until the last minute to score goals.”
“We had our chances and in the end we deserved to win.”
Asked for injury updates on Mount and Cunha, Amorim answered, “I don’t know. We’ll check them. We need those guys really badly to be competitive.”
On his recent comments that sometimes he will hate his players and sometimes he will love them, Amorim explained, “Yes, some moments.”
“But when they put the effort, I’ll always love them. Even when Amad is missing that kind of goal, I love Amad if he’s giving everything. We need to understand that we should always be at this level of effort. Even in the game, we played well at the beginning. I think we struggled when we changed the characteristics of the players because the match is not perfect and you can see the team struggle a little bit, especially in the second half.”
“But the effort was always there and we try to put the ball in the box. We put more people inside the box, not just around the box to play the ball.”
“Some of the things we were doing during the week and spoke about, they were doing that. They were focusing on the game. That is the most important thing.”
On his decision not to start Benjamin Sesko for another Premier League game, Amorim remarked, “Everything is connected. He finished the game [against Grimsby Town] with cramps. He was really at the limit, that’s why we protect Ben from the penalties and today, it was that reason also.”
“Because Josh [Zirkzee] is also a striker, he’s an international striker. But I was also thinking that Ben, during pre-season, didn’t do 90 minutes. He did that on Wednesday against a fourth division team. With the problem of Cunha, you don’t know whether that full game in the middle of the week has something to do with the injury today.”
“With the problem with Mason Mount, I was not risking another player, not knowing if they are able to play so many minutes. So everything was connected – the penalty, the Wednesday game and the number of minutes I was going to give Ben today.”
Amorim was asked to give his opinion on the goalkeeping department after another Altay Bayindir mistake gifted Burnley their second goal of the afternoon.
“They are humans. Everybody talks about the goalkeepers and you can see, I can change the goalkeepers and these situations happen – we are in that moment.”
“I think it’s hard to be a Manchester United goalkeeper in this moment. But if you look at the first goal, we can defend better in the box. We suffered quite a similar goal against Fulham because we don’t do the full rotation of the team when the ball is on the other side.”
“All these small things have nothing to do with the goalkeeper, so all the players are struggling with the small things happening around the club. That is normal. It’s not just the goalkeepers; everybody has to improve.
Mbeumo produced a brilliant performance, the highlight of which was his strike.
Asked about the Cameroonian, Amorim responded, “It was impressive, the way he stretched the team, the quality he has in the first touch. You can feel that we are a different team because when we win the ball, we have one guy stretching the team. Last season we struggled a little bit with that.”
“You can see the first minutes of the game, you can understand and compare this to Wednesday. It’s not about playing well. The sound of the fans when we’re pressing and winning balls and when you get a corner – when you’re sprinting to get a corner, you spring to get a throw-in. It has nothing to do with tactics or the tactical aspects.”
United are back in action on September 1, after the international break, when they face Manchester City at the Etihad.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
