Premier League Round 14 continued with Manchester United hosting West Ham United at Old Trafford. In this match, Matheus Cunha wasted a golden chance, Diogo Dalot gave Man Utd the lead at one point, and West Ham’s Edson Álvarez Magassa equalized the score. Eventually, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw. With the point earned, Manchester United overtook Liverpool to climb to 8th in the Premier League on goal difference.
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim attended the post-match press conference following the 1-1 late draw with West Ham United.
Good evening, Ruben. Are you frustrated with the result and performance?
“Yes, very frustrated and angry. That’s it.”
I imagine you’re thinking about how to get the team to perform better and put this behind them?
“Just keep working hard and try to win the next game.”
Ruben, the only game your team has won in the second half this season was the away victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday, when Palace were clearly fatigued after European football. Why do you think the team struggles so much in the second half to win games and hold on to leads?
“Yes, but in some second halves we lose control of the game. Today, I don’t think that was the case.
Maybe after the first goal against us, we lost some second balls – Matheus Cunha won one or two and launched counterattacks. We’ve been trying to defend far from our goal because we know this about them.
They try to cross the ball and win corners. Like what just happened: a long ball, they won the second ball against our three defenders. So we need to do better in the second half.”
You made five substitutions, four of which were defensive replacements. I know it might not have worked out as you hoped, but with hindsight, when leading 1-0, shouldn’t you have been more conservative?
“No. We lost because of second balls. Sometimes we don’t have enough people up front to win them. Do we have more players we can throw into attack? Who? Who is more attacking?”
I understand you don’t have many options, but what about Kobbie Mainoo? What do you think?
“Yes. It was about winning second balls, and I was worried about Matheus. I know Bruno Fernandes is good at driving into the box, and Mason Mount plays in that position too.
So I tried it. They were trying to press us. Bryan is quick and can try to win the ball in transition. That was my thinking.”
Ruben, you said you’re frustrated and angry when you came in. What exactly are you frustrated and angry about? Because your team has clearly made progress this season, but in recent weeks, it seems to have regressed.
“No, not regressed – the results have been declining. We’ve had some bright moments. Again, these things can happen, like the team you mentioned earlier, we had a winning streak when we were in perfect form, and I said at the time, ‘We’re not far from being perfect.’
We’re just too inconsistent. But look at that goal: the 83rd minute, we had a long ball attack. Everything was under our control. We need to do better.”
Do you and the team now feel that just one goal is not enough?
“Yes, I’ve always felt that. I think everyone feels we need to score more goals, that’s for sure. Even against Brighton, we were 3-0 up and then suddenly… So we suffer a lot in that regard. We’re inconsistent and need to improve.”
Talking about losing second balls, duels, and coming off second best in those areas – that’s clearly not a tactical issue. Is it a lack of fight? Or a lack of energy?
“It’s about second balls. Sometimes it’s tactical too. We adjust tactics based on the substitutions and then control the game. In the last few minutes, we had the ball, far from our goal, and they weren’t pressing aggressively all over the pitch.
We can’t let a team that’s much taller than us win a corner when the ball is at the goalkeeper’s feet. So these details decide games. Today, a corner in the second half decided the outcome.”
You said you’re frustrated and angry, and I assume your players are too, because they don’t want to concede goals like that. Do you talk to them immediately after the game in the dressing room, or leave it until the next day?
“No, in this regard, I’m almost always consistent. It was the same after the Brighton game last year. So I’ll talk to them tomorrow.”
