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Ruben Amorim rued Manchester United’s lack of ‘quality’ and ‘heart’ during a 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford with the result United’s first home defeat to Forest in 30 years.
The head coach also urged players and supporters to trust the process as he pledged to turn things around like he did at Sporting Lisbon.
Erik ten Hag’s successor enjoyed a promising start to life in the hotseat, but repeatedly attempted to manage expectations as wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton followed a draw at Ipswich.
Amorim warned that a storm was not far away and so it proved, with Arsenal’s corner prowess earning them a 2-0 Premier League win on Wednesday that was compounded by Forest on Saturday. Nikola Milenkovic, Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood scored in a famous 3-2 triumph at Old Trafford, where Rasmus Hojlund and Bruno Fernandes were on target for the hosts.
“It was a tough game, we started the two halves really bad, it’s bad in this context, to pass some calm to the players to do the game we should do. Not a lot of quality, heart, we tried. Not the best way, we suffered but tried to continue our game.” Amorim said following the final whistle.
“After half-time, we tried, it’s really hard, they scored one with strikers inside the box, we couldn’t do it in the end. It’s a low block, we need more time to put in the positions, our first goal was a good combination, after the first goal we had a good moment, a lot of players creating chances. We suffered two goals and then went forward without a lot of thinking. We have to address that, but it’s a long journey.
“It’s not individual, it’s all the team, we suffered three goals in two games from set-pieces, we spent a lot of time there, but we have to do better. We have to do better in all of these matches.”
We have to manage to continue to do the same things and improving the team because this will turn around
Ruben Amorim
The Portuguese later added that it would take time to address all of United’s faults adding: “We already knew (it would be tough). It will be a long journey, but we want to win because this is a massive club.
“You feel it when you lose one game, it’s really hard for everybody. I can understand that. I can feel it in the stadium after the first goal.
“We understand the context, but we have to keep (working) in the same way, doing the same things. The same words I have here with Everton, I have today. Continue to focus on the performance.
“We need to improve in a lot of aspects of the game and continue to do the same things tomorrow in training.”
Asked about his mentality after bruising back-to-back losses, Amorim said: “I had this and worse in Sporting in the beginning.
“The feeling for me is the same. For the world it’s completely different because you know Sporting in Portugal, but Manchester you have a lot of attention. But for me, it’s the same feeling.
“I had this period at Sporting and if you are a little experienced in football, this happens with a lot of clubs and we have to manage to continue to do the same things and improving the team because this will turn around.
“We need time and to continue to work in the same way every day.”
There were ups and downs on Saturday evening, when Andre Onana somehow let a Gibbs-White shot past him before the goalkeeper and his defenders failed to cut out Wood’s looping header.
“Onana already saved us a lot of times, so we have to find a way when this happens to Onana or to Altay (Bayindir) or to Tom (Heaton),” he said.
“We have to turn around and to score two goals to help our goalkeeper, the same way that he saves us, for example, in Ipswich. We have to continue. We lose as a team, we have to improve in all aspects of the game.”
Another of those aspects is set pieces, with United conceding after just 88 seconds as Milenkovic met a corner, three days on from set pieces costing them at Arsenal.
“When this happen it is more my fault because I am responsible,” Amorim said. “We try to do it in the best way. We did a lot of work in this area because we saw it in Arsenal. It is really hard in this context.
