Ruben Amorim has addressed the Anfield atmosphere that awaits Manchester United in our Premier League meeting with Liverpool this Sunday.
The United boss admitted the “environment is going to be loud”
, but stated his belief that his charges are ready for the challenge, with past evidence suggesting they can thrive in such a setting.
Amorim was speaking in the second part of his pre-match media briefing with journalists at our Carrington training base, where he also answered questions on Senne Lammens, penalty takers and navigating the return from international breaks.
Keep scrolling to read, and watch, everything he had to say...
United have basically won once in the last decade at Anfield, a Wayne Rooney goal, and before that it was Juan Mata who scored twice. The fans still talk about these wins for the obvious reasons. Can you use that? Can you say that to your players, that you've got a chance here to really please our fans, to break this sequence or at least improve it?
“You have so many things to use with our players, like winning back-to-back games, to have that moment and that can change completely, and I felt like the game against Chelsea when we won, the week was so different. So, we have a lot of things to use with the players. I think they don't remember those games. The football players nowadays, they don't watch many games, unfortunately. So, we have so much to use, that is not the hardest part. We have so much to win if we perform, if we win the next game, that I don't need to use those games in the past. We just need to try to show them what that could bring for our future.”
At Anfield, in English, we say it can be a bit of a ‘bear pit’, the atmosphere there’s quite involved. Are you confident your players can thrive and use that positive energy?
“We showed last year. And I think the way we start the game is more important than the environment. The environment can change. Of course, they will win a corner, an opportunity. The environment is going to be loud, but we are ready to play with that. And if you looked last year, not this year, but last year, sometimes we play better in that kind of environment than the pressure at home. So, we never know what is going to happen. It's really important to start the game well, to do a really good warm-up, to have a feeling, to understand that it’s going to be tough in the first moments. So, I think – I know – they are ready, but we need to prepare for the impact, especially for the beginning of the game.”
Do you really think players don’t watch as many games now as they used to?
“No, I think that is normal. Everything now is different with a lot of distractions. I think they don't watch a lot of games. You have guys like Bruno. Bruno is watching his team-mates and [when] he plays. He watches every game that is on TV. But then you have some guys that play really well, [and then] they want to do something different, that's okay.”
Just on Senne, he was quite an important figure, I think, against Sunderland for the more direct approach to make sure there was no pressure on the backline. Is that an approach you can use at Anfield?
“I think if you look at nowadays, every time the ball goes to the goalkeeper, most of the teams play man-to-man, and sometimes you don't have anyone to play, and you try to use the first ball with the second ball and try to win when you have players with a lot of power in front, and now we have it. If we win one second ball, we can take all that build-up from the game to have the opportunity to score. I think everyone is doing that. Senne has one ability that is really good: he can play both feet, and it's harder for the opponents to try to make the pressure from one side or the other. They know that he can kick the ball with both feet, and I think that is really important. But he also needs to be ready that people are seeing the games, understanding that he takes a little bit of time to choose, and he needs to be ready for Premier League. So, it's something that you use, if it's man-to-man in front, you are not building up, you can put the ball in one-against-one in front, and that is the play.”
Bruno's missed two of his three penalties against Brentford and Fulham. Is that something that you talk about? Is there any sense at all that you might change your taker?
“No. I know that it's not easy for him, but I think he has 70 penalties, and he misses like nine. Two with me, so I'm really annoyed with that. But he's really confident. He's training the penalties, he's trying to understand that people are watching the way he scores the penalties. So, he'll be ready. We have more guys also to score a penalty if he needs.
Have you had cause to talk to him about this? As you mentioned, you signed three forwards in the summer. I know Bryan missed one against Grimsby, but you have other options there now. Is he [Fernandes] still your man to go and take it?
“Yes, he’s the main taker. He scores a lot of goals, penalty is passing [him at] this moment. We have other options. Again, we can change, but I'm fully confident that Bruno will sort that out.”
Since you arrived, United haven't won any of their games directly after an international break. Is that just a coincidence or do these breaks sort of disrupt the rhythm of the team?
“Yeah, but you don't need to look a lot to understand that there's a lot of things; we cannot win back-to-back, we cannot win. So, if you look to all these things, we will find out a million things. So, I'm not trying to think like that. The last game was against City when we had the national teams’ break, and we understood that was the lack of aggressiveness. That is my main concern, trying to understand why we are not winning those kind of games. So, we need to be more aggressive in this game, to be ready for the game. So, I'm not thinking like, ‘We didn't win since I'm here after international break’. We can win any game. Depends sometimes from the opponent, but also from us.”
Kobbie [Mainoo] and Josh [Zirkzee] have both been linked with possible moves in January. Do you understand how difficult it is to please players in terms of their minutes, when there’s a World Cup next summer?
“That is normal, and I also know that in our club, everything is a lot of noise, and you have to have news, and players are not playing. They want to play. Like you said, there's a World Cup. There are agents that listen to the players talking all the time. So, I understand that, but they are our players, and we need everyone to have a good season.”
Marcus Rashford said during the week that he was suffering before in an inconsistent environment. What did you make of those comments?
“I'm just focused on the future of the club, on the present of the club. That is the most important thing. So, I'm focused just on my players and what they say, what they do, that is my main focus.”