Amorim offers head-scratching excuse for United’s latest embarrassing defeat to Chelsea

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has opined that his players lost concentration a little bit and allowed Chelsea to take advantage, ultimately leading to their loss.

Chelsea beat United 1-0 in the latter’s last Premier League game before the Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

With one eye on the Europa final, Amorim made five personnel changes to the starting XI, although he still named a strong team to battle against the Blues at Stamford Bridge.

United put up one of their most respectable performances in the Premier League for months but they still suffered a defeat, courtesy of Marc Cucurella’s headed finish in the second half.

Cucurella rose highest to nod in a cross from Reece James, who produced a fantastic pirouette to get past substitute Alejandro Garnacho.

This latest disappointing result means that United remain in 16th place in the table. The Red Devils have also now gone eight league games without a win for the first time since January 1990.

After the final whistle, Amorim spoke to BBC Match of the Day and gave his verdict on the performance and the scoreline.

He told the news outlet, “I think we started great, well but in the final third we needed to be a bit more aggressive. We were there, we faced the game in the right way.”

“It was a bit of bad luck today. Sometimes we want to press and to score a goal but we lost a little bit of concentration.”

“It was different but you never like when you lose the game. We were competitive, that was clear.”

He added, “We have to prepare for each competition, with five days, we can rest. We have five days to prepare [for the Europa League final], two days to fully recover and then two days to prepare.”

“In the end I looked at all the players and I think they are ok.”

“Of course, we are excited to be in the final. Since day one the pressure has been there but I live quite well with the pressure. When you have the final of any cup, we show up so we are prepared for that.”

United’s full attention now shifts to next week’s final.

Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images

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