Man United lack character, says Amorim after Brentford defeat as the wait for consecutive wins continues for him.
Ruben Amorim rues Man United and the lack of character after latest defeat.
Ruben Amorim bemoaned his Manchester United team’s lack of poise, control and character on both sides of the ball as they suffered their most recent loss of his tumultuous tenure, losing 3-1 at Brentford.
After Brentford defender Nathan Collins escaped a red card for his last-man challenge on Bryan Mbeumo in front of goal, Bruno Fernandes missed a 2-1 penalty in the 76th minute. However, Amorim used the day to consider how his players had not followed his instructions from the training field, especially when it came to defending against fast long balls during transitions, rather than to criticise the referees.
Within 20 minutes, Brentford had a 2-0 lead thanks to two goals from Igor Thiago, leaving Amorim frustrated. Prior to the first, Matheus Cunha was not awarded a free kick on the boundary of the opposition area. The choice would have been delicate. The incapacity of his players to cope with failures worried Amorim.
“We can settle down the game,” he said. “That is something that I know this team can do. But when everything … the moments, the penalty [miss], the foul before the first goal … all these things are against us, we need to have more personality to control the games, calm down the games and then play back. I feel that sometimes when things are really hard, they are not the same. But that is the pressure of the club.”
“When we win it’s not the system; when we lose it’s the system,” Amorim said. “I understand that. It’s more that we play this game like Brentford wants us to play this game. We never play our game. We never push the opponent.
“We knew that every time they recover the ball, they will make a run and they will fight for the ball. We suffered two goals like that. We suffered goals in transition that we knew during the week and we worked on that. The frustration is that every goal, the goals today, we work on that during the week.
“We can do better with the ball. We can have more control. My biggest concern is we didn’t settle down the game. In the final third, we missed a lot of crosses. I think it’s clear that we can create more chances. We had a little bit of a lack of quality in the final third.”
Amorim reiterated his belief that he could improve United’s situation. Since his hiring in November of last year, he has collected 34 points from 33 Premier League games.
“We can play better and we need to play better,” he said. “It’s ups and downs. When you win, you feel that everything … the momentum is here. When you lose, you go back to the same place and you fight again for one win that can help you to create the momentum. If I win, I’m in a different state of mind. That is normal, but I’m always confident because I know what to do. So guys, I’m always doing my job.”