Manchester United's post-season tour to Asia got off to a miserable start as they were met with boos following a tepid defeat in Malaysia - a response that head coach Ruben Amorim welcomed, suggesting his squad might actually "need" such frank feedback. Fresh from their crushing Europa League final loss to Tottenham in Bilbao, the Red Devils embarked on a lucrative £8million tour, starting in Kuala Lumpur.
In a surprising 1-0 loss to the ASEAN All-Stars during Wednesday's Maybank Challenge Cup, Maung Maung Lwin's strike after half-time sealed the win, to the dismay of over 72,000 fans at Bukit Jalil Stadium who didn't shy away from expressing their disappointment with jeers. The stark contrast between the enthusiastic support back at Old Trafford and the boos received abroad did not go unnoticed by Amorim.
He said: "I feel always guilty. I said that in the last game. I am always guilty of the performance of the team no matter and since I am here in the first day, I am guilty. Then the boos from the fans, I think it's something that we need maybe because every game that we lost in the Premier League they were always there (cheering us).
"So, it's like the way of playing. If they see that it's not working, they will change the way they behave. But I felt then when we finished and we walk away, like every time, the supporters were with us. Let's wait for the next season."
United's performance in the scorching heat of Kuala Lumpur left much to be desired, coming just three days after Amorim assured supporters that "the good days are coming" following a "disaster season" which concluded with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at home.
"We should perform better," the Portuguese manager admitted before flying out to Hong Kong for another friendly match on Friday. "We were slow and we still don't have in us to win every exercise in training, every game. But the important thing is that we didn't have any injury.
"Some players were a risk, but we wanted to respect all the fans and put all the players in the game and we should win with these kind of games."
While Amorim was willing to reflect on the friendly, he remained tight-lipped about transfer dealings, despite United being given the green light by Wolves to finalise a deal with forward Matheus Cunha.
"You'll have to wait for that until next season," he stated. "That's for you chaps (in the media) to discuss. It's your time, I won't confirm anything. I have no news, so we'll see, but there will be some changes."