Amorim: We need to not think so far ahead

The boss was speaking to journalists ahead of our trip to Selhurst Park on Sunday, as his side bids to bounce back from our defeat against Everton last time out.

With many of his players still embedding into the culture, mindset, play style and philosophy of his footballing ideas, Amorim admitted patience is often tough to come by in modern football.

And given he still feels that the club is on a journey to the top, the 40-year-old conceded there will be multiple bumps to come, like we saw against the Toffees.

Speaking on just that, and much more ahead of our next Premier League outing, read what Ruben had to say in part two of his pre-match press conference down below...

You play three at the back, which is supposed to be a very strong defensive sort of setup, the two wing-backs come back as well. But you’ve conceded 19 goals, and I think there's only two or three teams conceding more, it’s 20, so you're sort of second for the highest amount of goals conceded. Why is that? Because, as I say, it's supposedly a defensive-first formation, to stop goals…
“It depends on the way you play the game. Some teams play with four centre defenders. I play with three, one of them is Luke Shaw. Sometimes we have Nous [Mazraoui] and Luke Shaw, so we play with one centre-back. If you play with Amad on the wing-back, he's not a wing-back, he's a winger. So, it depends on the way you see things. Then if you see, again, if you understand all the data, we have some results of not [allowing] a lot of teams, in some games, to get in the final third, but we are being really soft near the box, so we need to improve that. In the last games, especially against Nottingham, we took a lot of crosses. We didn't press well in that moment. Against Everton, of course, they were with 10 men. We cannot suffer a goal. We suffered the goal in the only shot on target. So that thing also can change the way you see teams, but of course we need to improve in a lot of things. We need to close our goals because we are scoring goals, [but] not in the last one [against Everton]. So, I think it's an issue. It's not about the defenders; it's about the team and the way we feel the danger near our box.”

It's an interesting word you use there, soft. Is that an attitude, or is that a problem, mentality, or is that actually some of your players are too soft to want to, like, really get in there?
“When I say soft, it's the goal of Everton. We are there near the box, we have more guys than Everton. We should be better, stronger on the duels. Crystal Palace is really strong on the duels. Every time one-against-one, when they have to defend, they are really strong. So, if we can take something from our opponent, we need to be strong on that also.”

Just to finish, if you could sort out the defence, because you have scored quite a lot of goals, then you'd be a lot happier, surely? That seems to be the key, because you scored 19 goals as well, which is not that far behind Arsenal for example…
“For me, it's not just the numbers. It's Nottingham Forest, to suffer two goals in two minutes after half-time. That is the concern. You are controlling the game against Tottenham, and you have the same amount of guys when they score. We are in the good position, but we need to be better, more aggressive. So that is my biggest concern. It's not just the numbers, it's the way you see the game, and you understand if we are better in this moment, we should have more points, and all the narrative should be so different. Imagine if we won the game against Everton, all this conversation would be completely [different]. [Reporter: We’d all be a lot happier, wouldn’t we?] Yeah, and you would be here asking me about top four. One game, one shot on goal. So, we need to understand [that] in this club. That's why I get so frustrated in the end of the games. We need to understand that this club is different from any other club. So, let's do everything to avoid this.”

Just on that, you mentioned before about there's a pressure here to win every week. But also, I think everyone can see that it's a long-term project. You've only been here a year, you've only had one summer window. You're talking about having different characteristics with the players, which is obviously going to take time. How do you balance that kind of short term, we have to win right now, with letting fans know that it is going to take time, it's going to take time to get to the right players in?
“I will say the same, I think it's clear that it's going to take time, especially now in the Premier League and every other club is really prepared for everything and they are improving a lot. Then, we need to win now. If not, something is going to change and we know that. So, we just need to be better. And to be really specific, look at our games. Could we have won the last game? Yes, we should have won the last game. We had everything to win last game. We had the same thing with Nottingham. They were suffering and we were in three wins. We have the game there. And we didn't win, Tottenham the same thing. So that is my feeling. For me, it's the urgency of winning. It's not good to be in Manchester United not winning. There is no time here. So that is the feeling that I have. That's why I'm so frustrated all the time. So again, we know that we need time, but there is no time in this club. So, let's do everything to win games.”

You said after Monday's game that you were concerned about going back to the feeling of last season and earlier here today you mentioned how quickly things can change in this league. You've had a good run, but it has been two draws and one defeat now. How concerned are you that you might go back to what happened last season, that it might start to unravel?
“We just need not to think so far ahead. I say that because losing, I had always that feeling of frustration, of being angry all the time. And I don't want to have that feeling, it’s so much harder, my life when I have that feeling. So, let's not think [too far ahead]. The same thing that I said when we were winning, that is in the past. And you guys were trying to push more from me. And I always said the same thing, this is in the past, everything can change. I will say the same thing. We didn't win the last one in the big club, it’s a problem. Let's win the next one. It's going to be really tough, but let's go.”

Hi Ruben, Kobbie Mainoo had one of his longer games on Monday as a substitute. How close is he to starting a game for you? And if he's not, what does he have to do? What do you have to see from him for him to be in contention to start? Because it's a World Cup year, he's got 10 caps for England, I'm guessing when the season started he was thinking World Cup…
“Yeah, but this is a team sport. You talk a lot of about Kobbie, I have more players in my squad that want to be in the World Cup, so it's a little bit unfair. I put Kobbie [in on Monday] because he's really good near the box, to have a guy like Bruno and him, they can find spaces near the box and score goals. So that was my idea. So, I will use Kobbie and the rest of them to try for the team to win. So, I'm not just focused on one individual. I want to help all my players and I know how special it is for a player to play World Cup. My job is to win as a team and to focus as a team. So, Kobbie Mainoo is in the same situation as the other guys. If I feel that is the best thing to win the game, I will do it. So that's it.”

The way your team set up at the minute, do you not see him as a starter?
“No, I see him as a starter like the other guys. I just have to make a choice and then in the end, it’s not been Kobbie. But in the future, I don't know. Again, I always think the same thing with Casemiro. Casemiro was not playing and then he plays. I just want to win games. I don't care who is playing. I just want to win games.”

Hi, Ruben. On the subject of who's starting games, you’ve been changing between Dalot and Dorgu this season at left wing-back. What have you thought about their performances? And at the end of the season, could that be potentially a position that you look at in the transfer window?
“We have time to think about that. I don't know if it's going to happen in January. What I feel, when I see them training, they are doing so much better than in games. Then Patrick, when I see him playing for national team, he scored a great goal against Scotland. The decision that he made under pressure was completely different than the decision that he is making in our team. So, I just need to understand the context in trying to help them. I think they are far from the best and they know it. So, like a lot of players in our team, like myself. So, I just look at them, and I think they have so much more to give. So, let's see. Let's see this week if we improve that.”

Is that the area Patrick needs to improve? Is it attacking output in the final third?
“I think it's the decision. He needs to be calmer playing the game. You can feel the anxiety every time Patrick touched the ball. I can feel the anxiety. And you remember the shot against Everton. That was easier than the decision that he had to make when the guys from Scotland were there, and he has a great decision, and I saw it when he played in Italy. But again, here is different, and sometimes the pressure is hard for them in the beginning, but he has time to improve.”