Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has defended his players after the defeat to City at The Etihad.
Unlike last season’s memorable late 2-1 away win over City, Manchester United returned from The Etihad with a 3-0 defeat.
Aside from the first 20 seconds, United had competed well in the first half, before defensive errors allowed City to take a lead into the break.
United began to fall apart a bit more in the second half and slipped to a 3-0 deficit. Amorim’s side created multiple chances in the last 10 minutes but were unable to take any of them.
Benjamin Sesko is held back by Ruben Dias
Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Amorim says attacking improvements needed
United’s inability to score contributed to the pressure on the defence, and Ruben Amorim says that he spotted a problem with his team’s performance in attack.
Amorim referenced his team attempting to cross the ball to striker Benjamin Sesko, but felt that there needs to be more options for the players.
“There are a lot of things we need to change. I felt that when we were near the box we needed to put more bodies in the box for crosses.
“That is something we need to improve. We are getting there with the ball, but we need to be more clinical.”
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Speaking about Sesko, he told the BBC: “He is going to feel that he is in the strongest league in the world.
“We can help Sesko to use his qualities, but it will take time.”
Sesko was making his first Premier League start, while making his fifth total appearance, and is still searching for his first goal.
Ruben Amorim defends players’ effort
Ruben Amorim was interrogated after the game about Manchester United’s performance. He insisted he had one main takeaway.
Amorim said that in the past he has been unconvinced about the effort from his players. But in this game he had no complaints about the application from his players.
He told reporters: “If I look to the game, last year we draw and won against City and today we were a little bit better but in the small details it was clearly not good enough. We are building things but of course we need to win. I’m not happier.
“I didn’t see one player in my team not giving the maximum. The rest is with me. The disappointment sometimes I feel we could run more, but I didn’t have that feeling today. It’s my fault, not their fault and I am fine with that.
“I know it’s hard on our fans but again, I cannot point to one player [about lack of] effort. With game intelligence we can improve but that is my fault and we can improve.”