Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has revealed exactly what went wrong for his side during their heavy loss at the hands of Manchester City.
United destroyed by City in derby clash
Phil Foden put City in the lead after just 18 minutes, heading home a pull-back pass from Jeremy Doku.
Erling Haaland doubled the hosts’ advantage shortly after the restart, capitalising on some pitiful defending from United to carefully slot the ball past Altay Bayindir.
The Norwegian striker nearly made it 3-0 mere moments later, but he struck the post with his effort.
He however eventually completed his brace as he ran from his half with the ball before planting the ball into the bottom corner of Bayindir’s goal.
The result has left United in 14th place in the table, having won just one of their four opening Premier League fixtures.
After the final whistle, Amorim told the media that his side’s failure to take their chances was to blame for the defeat.
Amorim’s verdict on United’s defeat vs. City
Amorim said on BBC Match of the Day [via BBC], “If you look at the goals, we can avoid those goals. That was the biggest difference. We can do better, especially the second goal. We suffered goals we can avoid.”
“The biggest difference was when we had transitions, we didn’t score. In the second half they did better in transition and we suffered in that moment.”
“We can do better, that is clear but again transitions – the third goal, lack of quality in the connection, people don’t know who is going to the ball and then the guy is free to score. The first one he is in the middle of four guys and we can be aggressive in that moment.”
“In these kind of games we need to be perfect and in this game we were not perfect. The frustration is always the same because with the amount of chances we need to score goals.”
He told BBC Radio 5 Live, “Really disappointing when you lose 3-0 against City. If you look at the moment of the game, the three goals we can avoid it.”
“First goal – the lack of aggressiveness. Second goal – we were playing better when we started the second half, one throw in, one against one and Leny Yoro going outside rather than inside.”
“The third goal is a confusion in the middle of the park and Haaland has the space to run into. I think the moments of the game we could avoid.”
“Of course, there are a lot of things we need to change. I felt that when we were near the box we needed to put more bodies in the box for crosses.”
“That is something we need to improve. We are getting there with the ball, but we need to be more clinical.”
Asked about Benjamin Sesko, who struggled to get into the game, Amorim revealed that the Slovenian striker needs time to get used to English football.
Featured image Michael Regan 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!
