Ruben Amorim praised Manchester United for their 2-2 draw against Liverpool before adding he was trying to “shock” with his comments about the team because everyone is “too comfortable”.
Amad Dialloequalizer in the 80th minute at Anfield, after goals from Cody Steel And Mohamed Salah had given Liverpool a 2-1 lead, handed Amorim’s side a point against the Premier League leaders and ended a three-game losing streak. Lisandro Martinez scored the first goal for United.
United could have won when Harry Maguire had a clear chance to score seven minutes into added time, but the England centre-half placed his shot over the crossbar.
After going into the match saying his players were “scared” of winning the ball back, Amorim said his shock therapy approach was aimed at snapping the club out of its malaise.
“I try this motivation every day,” Amorim told reporters. “I try to push this team every day, sometimes it might not be the best way, I always challenge these players in everything I do because I feel like we are, not just the players, but everyone at Manchester United is too comfortable.
“So I think sometimes we need a shock, and you can see today we were a different team. It wasn’t about the system, it was about the way we faced the competition. I think that It’s a very good sign. It’s really clear, we’ve lost three games in a row at home, some games we concede two goals without doing anything.
“I’m upset today, really upset. I’m happy with the performance but everyone today is going to tell this team they did a good job. Today I have the right to be the only guy upset with the team, but today we were a team.”
United had lost five of their last six league matches before the clash with Liverpool and now face an FA Cup third round tie at Arsenal on January 12 before returning to the Premier League with a home game against the bottom club. Southampton on January 16.
But after being undone by inconsistencies during Amorim’s brief spell at the club, the former Sporting CP coach is now aiming to avoid another crisis after a big result.
“Of course, it’s not just the end of the season that’s very long, but we had a few good games last month, but then we lose again,” Amorim said. “It’s something we have to be really consistent about. We had that discussion afterwards against (Manchester) City and it was the same thing. We can talk, but we have to show it and do it, and the best thing is that tomorrow we will train and we must maintain the same level of mentality.
Amorim also defended Joshua Zirkzee after the striker passed to Maguire deep in stoppage time rather than shoot himself.
Maguire failed to connect properly with Zirkzee’s pass and sent his shot over the bar with the last chance of the game.
“For me, I think it was the perfect decision,” Amorim said. “He can shoot, but he put the ball in the middle, a guy is coming back, the ball was very slow for Harry to score but sometimes you can’t. Josh made a good decision, in my opinion .”
