Manchester United summer signing Leny Yoro has revealed what the defenders and Ruben Amorim have been doing to try and fix the leaky backline.
United suffered their seventh home Premier League defeat last Sunday against Crystal Palace but even on a poor day for the club, Leny Yoro still impressed.
It will not have been easy for the 19-year-old to adapt to Amorim’s methods of a back-three but the head coach has tried to make things easier by including a lot of video analysis to improve the backline.
As Yoro revealed to club legend Rio Ferdinand on The Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, United have a separate WhatsApp group for the defenders wherein they are shown clips of the strikers they will be coming up against to help them understand how to go about their business.
On United’s defensive WhatsApp group
He also explained specifics he focuses on, which provided fascinating insight into how meticulously he approaches the game.
“Yeah, yeah, of course. It’s (video analysis) important. We have a group on WhatsApp. With all the defenders, they send clips of the strikers, their movements, their runs.
“I am especially looking where to run, for example if the defender has the ball, for a long pass. Or for a cross with the first or second ball, everything is really important.”
The Frenchman was also man enough to speak of his tough encounter against Kamaldeen Sulemana of Southampton, a night where he got run ragged out on the right.
On tough night vs Southampton
But his determined self shone through as he even explained that he looked at the post-match highlights more than 10 times to understand what he did wrong while also explaining how the game has made him an even better player.
“Yeah, I lost a lot of 1v1 duels and it was tough but it helped me improve. I looked at the clips almost 10 times to try and understand what I did wrong.”
The France U23 international has not had the best of starts for his new club since signing in the summer, suffering an injury early on in pre-season while having to bide his time to make his official debut.
But he has worked hard behind the scenes and showed amazing composure and maturity to come out even stronger post the injury as seen from his cameo against Arsenal in the FA Cup.
His own personal analyst
Teammates like Harry Maguire have already tipped him for the top and now, after hearing him speak to Ferdinand, it is clear to see that the 19-year-old is working extremely hard behind the scenes to fulfill his enormous potential.
In fact, apart from analysis sent by the club, Yoro also employs his own private analyst to help him improve even further.
“And outside of that. I have one person who’s doing really a lot of clips on the striker for me to know. I had already someone in Lille, so I keep working with him.”
He is about to take on an even greater role in the absence of Lisandro Martinez and more starts are on the horizon for him. Amorim and the United fans will be hoping to see even better performances from him moving forward.
Feature image Michael Regan via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
