Ruben Amorim says Manchester United “paid the price”
for losing control at the start of the second half of our clash with Nottingham Forest, but the boss is choosing to remain optimistic after seeing plenty of good in his side's performance.
Ruben's Reds drew 2-2 in an enthralling Premier League encounter with Sean Dyche's Forest on Saturday afternoon, played one year to the day that Amorim was appointed as our head coach.
With Casemiro putting United ahead in the first half at The City Ground, it looked at half-time that our head coach's landmark day may be marked with a win, but a second-half fightback from Forest ensured a different outcome.
The home side netted twice in quick succession after the break but, despite the swift shift in emotions, Amorim saw his team remain in check and take a point from Nottingham after a stunning late equaliser from Amad.
That response to a tough period in the middle of the game was particularly pleasing for Ruben, who understandably had mixed feelings while conducting his post-match media duties, but opted to remain encouraged by what he had seen.
Scroll down to see what he had to say about the game, goals and late hero Amad, in interviews with MUTV and BBC Match of the Day...
WE PAID PRICE FOR LOSING CONTROL
“We lost control of the game for five minutes and we paid the price. I felt that the level of energy was not the same compared to the last game. Sometimes, when you play away, you can feel that. [My players] gave everything, and you could see it in the game but, in the small details, the energy was not the same. We have to work on that. Like I was saying, we were in control of the game. In the Premier League, if you disconnect for five minutes, you can change the result.”
TEAM MANAGED EMOTIONS WELL
“Comparing [to] the recent past we had, some games [in] these big bad moments we struggle so much more than today, we managed to control the emotions, to put the ball on the ground and try to push the opponent to the final third. We managed to score, we had a big opportunity in the end. But we lost two points and that is the feeling, but we have the next week to work and to try and get these points in another stadium.”
FOREST'S QUICKFIRE DOUBLE
“Sometimes you have these moments and nothing happens. Imagine one cross and we can take the ball, the other was a rebound for the only [Forest] player that was near, that can happen. In the Premier League, when you have control of the game, you know that the beginning of the first half and second half is really important to calm down everything, and we did a little bit the opposite. But let's look to the other side... to suffer two goals like this, away, and manage to control again the emotions and try, I think we did a good job there.”
DIDN'T FEEL WE WOULD LOSE
“The big teams, sometimes when you have a bad moment, you know how to respond. When you cannot win, you cannot lose. I had that feeling today in the team, that we are not going to lose this game, and that is a good feeling.”
AMAD GOAL LIFTED PLAYERS AND FANS
“[It lifted] the team and our away fans, you can sense that if we have a little bit more time [we would have won]. I think we should have played a little bit more time today. But we lost two points, let's move on to work on the different things we need to improve, but look to the good things we showed today.”
AMAD CAN BE EVEN BETTER
“Amad has a lot of talent, he is growing up really fast. I think we have a lot of players that are young and talented but we need to help in all the details. He is improving a lot, he can play in different positions, I think he can be so much better. More consistent in every detail, when he receives the ball, in build-up, when he is in the final third. You could see in the first half he had some opportunities. In a lot of games, he has that opportunity coming inside and the shot is not there yet. We are working on that, so he has potential to do better.”
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