Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has credited a mentality shift for his side’s brave performance in their 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield.
United had lost five of their last six league games going into the Liverpool clash and the odds were firmly against them.
Amad Diallo’s late equaliser after goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah had overturned Lisandro Martínez’s opener for United, ensured the spoils were shared between the two bitter rivals.
The Red Devils nearly won it at the death when Harry Maguire was presented with a golden chance to find the back of the net but the England international aimed his shot well over the crossbar.
Amorim spoke to reporters in his post-match press conference and explained, “I want to see my team play so much better but I think the most important thing to address today is the mentality and that is the key for everything. Today we were a different team not because of the system, not because of a technical aspect of the game, the tactical aspect of the game.”
“We faced the competition in the way we are supposed to face every day. Training and match, it doesn’t match the place, the opponent, we need to face every day like that.”
Amorim insisted that some of his controversial statements such as United being in a relegation fight are intended to cause a “shock” effect as everyone at United is “too comfortable.”
He said about his shock therapy approach, “I’m trying that every day. I’m trying to push this team every day. Sometimes it’s maybe not the best way.”
“I am always challenging these players in everything I do. Because I feel we are, not just the players, but everybody at Manchester United is too comfortable. So I think sometimes we need a shock and you can see today we were a different team.”
“It was not about the system, it was about the way we faced the competition.”
On having more time to work with his players on the training ground, Amorim remarked, “I don’t want to use that but of course when you train, you understand better the way we play. The positioning, the characteristics of the team, that is really important but I don’t want to use that today.”
“Today is all about the focus when you are playing, the focus on set pieces, the focus on passing the ball not in the sloppy way but in the way that we cannot lose one ball because in the other part of the pitch it’s Salah, it’s Diaz.”
“So you don’t lose the ball, if you lose the ball in some parts we are going to suffer. If you have that mentality every day you are a different team and that is really clear.”
Amorim added, “I am upset today, really upset. I am pleased for the performance but everyone today is going to say that the team did a good job. Today I am allowed to be the only guy upset with the team but today we were a team.”
“We had some good games during this last month but then we drop again. It’s something that we need to be really consistent. We had this talk after against City it was the same. We can talk but we need to show and do it and the best thing is tomorrow we have training and we have to maintain the same level of mentality.”
Amorim defended Joshua Zirkzee after the forward passed to Maguire deep in stoppage time rather than going for goal himself.
The United boss emphasised that Zirkzee made the “perfect decision” to square it to Maguire.
Featured image Carl Recine 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!
