Manchester United are begging for the Premier League season to finish and Ruben Amorim already has one eye on the next one, but he did see something positive vs Chelsea.
Man Utd lost 1-0 to Chelsea in a game of few chances, but Ruben Amorim struck a positive, if realistic tone after the game.
He lamented the team’s wastefulness again but backed Rasmus Hojlund, who had a terrible game on the day.
However, beyond the headline makers, for reasons good or bad, he pointed out something his squad did vs Chelsea that he loved.
Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
Ruben Amorim makes Man Utd observation
Amorim has generally been the type of manager who brings his players down to earth after a good result and props them up after a bad one.
Against Chelsea, he sounded reasonably satisfied with the effort and performance even if the result was not what anyone would have wanted.
Amid the outside noise of Roy Keane hammering Hojlund, or the praise Harry Maguire is garnering, Amorim chose to focus on an intangible.
He pointed to what Man Utd players did near the end vs Chelsea as something he doesn’t like normally, but it showed him something valuable about his squad.
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He said: “The yellow cards in the end… I don’t like yellow cards, but I like how aggressive they [Man Utd players] were, and they were frustrated to lose the game. And that, for me, is a good point.”
Amorim made it a point to stress that he didn’t like the “feeling” in the dressing room after the West Ham defeat where the team was too comfortable, but it changed vs Chelsea.
Pressure on Man Utd and Amorim will ramp up next season
Man Utd fans are rightly giving Amorim the benefit of the doubt this season and lapping up these small positives in bad results.
In normal circumstances, players being aggressive and wanting to win is the most basic requirement from a squad at the top level.
However, it is a time when even that is held onto as something positive to build upon as Amorim presses ahead with a reset before next season.
He’s already dropped warning signs that big changes are coming and effectively transferred the burden of expectations onto the next season which is a dangerous game to play.
The first two months of the next season will be critical and that will be a time when he won’t be able to say “being aggressive” is a positive to hold onto.
Results will have to start speaking for themselves.