Ruben Amorim believes Thursday’s Premier League match at home to Southampton will show him more about his Manchester United side than their recent performances against Liverpool and Arsenal.
After a run of four straight defeats many predicted United could get rolled over in back-to-back away games against the league leaders and the Gunners, but they came away from Anfield with a 2-2 draw before beating Arsenal in a penalty shoot-out to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Expectations will now be high on Thursday night when a Southampton side rock bottom in the table with only six points from 20 games arrive at Old Trafford.
Manchester United celebrated a penalty shoot-out win over Arsenal in the FA Cup at the weekend (Mike Egerton/PA)
“I think this next game will teach me more from my players than the last two, so I’m really focused to see what kind of game we are going to play,” Amorim said.
“We will learn more (on Thursday). There were no expectations for us in the last two games, nobody believed in us to do a great performance or win a game, but now they are expecting us to win and to play well. So I will learn more in this game.”
Against both Liverpool and Arsenal, United had to soak up significant amounts of pressure, looking to hit their opponents on the counter-attack. Against a struggling Saints side at home, Amorim’s men will be expected to take the initiative.
The head coach admitted that side of their game is still a work in progress.
“It’s different because the most difficult thing to train in one team is the way you build with the ball and in the final third the way we play, the way you create a situation,” Amorim said.
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“That is what a big team should do very well but for that we need time to train. We have for a long time a lack of goals, because we don’t spend a lot of time in the last third with the ball. We did it against Nottingham (Forest) but we need to improve in that part of the game.
“In this moment, it’s OK to play like that, we divide the game against Liverpool but against Arsenal we wait for the game, we wait for the opportunity. In the future you cannot play like that, and I know that but we need to build a different way to play.
“Now we are focused on different things and in the future we are going to focus a lot on that. In this game the fans will expect more and we have to deliver, or try. The most important thing is to fight in the game and in the end, win the game.”
Before going toe to toe with Liverpool and Arsenal, United had lost heavily at home to both Bournemouth and Newcastle, and lost 2-0 at Wolves. Amorim admitted the difference between those performances and results was a worry for him.
“I’m always concerned because we didn’t have during these games the consistency in performance, in results, so I’m always worried,” he said. “It’s my job to be worried but we have to face Southampton in the same way we faced Liverpool and Arsenal.
Amorim deflected a question on the future of Marcus Rashford (Martin Rickett/PA)
“That is the goal. Not more, not less, face that game. But understanding they are different games and people expect us to win – that changes things. When you have the pressure to win, that is the pressure we want. Sometimes it’s harder to cope with that pressure.”
Meanwhile Amorim deflected a question on the future of Marcus Rashford, with speculation growing that the 27-year-old is on the verge of leaving the club after falling out of favour.
“I just want to win tomorrow,” Amorim said. “My focus is to win tomorrow, I will choose the players I think are best to win tomorrow.”