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Sunday 22 December 2024 17:15
Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United are in “a tough moment” and the “challenge is big” but he is determined to turn things around to bring happier times for the fans.
The head coach said he could feel “a lot of anxiety” from the opening stages of Sunday’s 3-0 reverse against Bournemouth and that “everyone is tired” of games like this but “we must face it” and prepare for our next outing against Wolves.
In his post-match press conference, Amorim also outlined the Reds must improve on defending set-pieces, after conceding the opening goal against the Cherries from a wide free-kick.
Scroll down to read every word from Ruben’s media briefing…
Ruben, how disappointing is it to concede the first goal from a set-piece again?
“Yeah, without conceding nothing to the opponent and then one set-piece makes us more nervous, all of the stadium, I felt it. Since the first minute, there’s a lot of anxiety – that’s normal because of the context and it’s really disappointing. We then created a lot of chances to score and that again, like against Tottenham, they score two goals and it’s really hard. After that third goal, it’s like everyone in the stadium is suffering – the fans, the players, everybody. It’s a tough moment but we have to face it and prepare for the next game.”
You said the other week that Carlos [Fernandes] is in charge of set-pieces now. Would you consider changing that because Andreas Georgson was brought to the club in the summer to take charge of set-pieces?
“No, the responsibility of everything is me, it’s not Carlos, it’s on me. We are a team, we are a team in the good moments, in the bad moments. We have a way of doing things, we are working on that, we are going to improve on that also. But we didn’t lose because of set-pieces, we lose because we create more chances that we didn’t score and then in this moment everything is against us. They can score like against Tottenham, we created a lot of chances also. It’s a difficult moment but the responsibility is with me, not Carlos.”
A couple of weeks ago, you said your team was giving the ball away too much. It happened again today, you couldn’t defend like from set-pieces and couldn’t finish. How are you going to get anywhere until you get the basics right?
“Yeah, that is clear but you have more possession, you create more chances. We concede less chances so you are defending. Of course, the result says a different thing but you are defending better than the opponent because you concede less greater opportunities. You are creating more so you are attacking a little bit more. But then in the last moments, we don’t score and then the result says different things. Like I said, it’s really hard and we have to address that. We are suffering a lot of goals, that is clear. Creating chances but not scoring so we have to address that.”
But shouldn’t top professionals be able to do the basics of keeping the ball and defending set-pieces? Surely you don’t need to coach them in that?
“It’s my responsibility to coach them. Of course, we want to improve and everything in this moment is so harder. In a club like Manchester United, to lose 3-0 at home, it’s really tough for everybody. Of course the fans are really disappointed and tired of this moment. You can feel it in the stadium, even in the first play, and I understand that. But we have to face it and we know what to do. So we have to improve set-pieces. I think we are not giving the ball away as much as we did. We control better the game, we don’t concede a lot of spaces. Transitions, we control very well against one team that 60 per cent of the goals they score is when they steal the ball in our half. We manage to do that but then in the set-pieces, one penalty and then that moment when we have to forget the context, everything, and keep the ball for a moment and not try to score two goals right away. It’s a really tough moment and we have to understand what the players are thinking in that moment when you suffer the 2-0, when you concede a penalty, when the box is controlled, so we’ll address that and we have to address that. It’s really tough for everybody to lose these kinds of games.”
On Thursday at Spurs, you spoke of a disconnect that it went from 1-0 to 3-0 very quickly and the same kind of thing happened today. You were talking about coaching on the training pitch but it suggests it’s a mental thing in the players’ mind – is that harder to solve?
“I think this context, those moments, that understanding of the game, it’s a lot of mental. But you can feel not just the players, also the fans, you can feel it in the first goal-kick from Andre Onana, he’s thinking what to do, trying to push the other guys and everybody’s so anxious. So I think in this moment in our club, everybody’s tired of this moment. We know it so we have to face it and focus on the next game. We know, like I said in the previous question, we know what to do. We have to address a lot of things but we are ready to do it. We already knew the challenge is big but, like I said, it’s really tough on the fans. It’s really tough on the players that they are losing 2-0 at home so they want to score two goals instead of one.”
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Sunday 22 December 2024 17:15
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