Ruben Amorim was “really frustrated” and pointed the finger of blame at Manchester United players who lost 1-0 to Everton despite playing with 10 men for nearly 80 minutes. Idrissa Gana Nguye’s unusual first-half red card for a fight with a team-mate meant nothing as Toothless United were unable to find an equalizer after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s goal just after the half-hour mark sealed three points for the visitors at Old Trafford.
Bruno Fernandes and Joshua Zirkzee came closest, but the Red Devils managed just six shots on target despite having extra players on the pitch. Amorim was clearly disappointed after the match and told Sky Sports on multiple occasions how frustrated he was. The Portuguese coach criticized his players for their decision-making and for allowing their level to “drop” as their five-match unbeaten run ended in a disappointing result.
Amorim said: “I’m really frustrated, just like any other player who supports Manchester United. They didn’t understand how to enter the game, how to play against 10 men. They deserved to win. It’s normal to struggle against 10 men. We had a lot of chances, but we lacked quality and decision-making.”
“We lacked understanding of all the situations in the game, and the quality around the box. But the most important thing is the intensity. You can feel it right away in the first minute of the game, and you can feel it when we have top-level intensity and when we don’t. And when we don’t, we don’t win like this.”
Asked if he was surprised, Amorim added: “Of course. But we’ve said many times that we understand we have a lot of work to do. But we’re really frustrated with the way the game played, especially at home, and understanding what happened with other clubs this weekend, we looked at the table and dropped everything.”
“And I was really frustrated with the way we showed from the first moment. This is more than just (a missed opportunity). We need to play the game in a different way. Sometimes we can do it, sometimes we can have good results and performances, but sometimes we fall.”
Lenny Yolo and Bruno Fernandes defended the decisive Dewsbury Hall goal poorly, with goalkeeper Senne Ramens unable to put any effort into his shot. Asked what United could have done better, Amorim simply replied:
“I don’t want to say anything specific. We didn’t play well. We just didn’t understand and went with the flow of the game. That’s my biggest concern.”
Center back Matthijs de Ligt said: “It’s clear. It was a bad night for us. We conceded one goal for almost 70 minutes, 11-10, and we didn’t create many chances. We had some numbers, but it wasn’t enough for a 10-10 game. It was a disappointing night.”
“For us, we didn’t do enough. We couldn’t put any runs or bodies into the box. They were strong in the air, so we didn’t have anyone to score from there. We basically played to their strengths. Those are the main aspects, but we have to look at ourselves and we weren’t good enough.”
“We were training together apart for a while. I think we lacked a little bit of urgency in some situations. When we lack this urgency, they get punished. If we don’t score, we lose this game. We lacked the greed to make changes in the most important moments.”
