Ruben Amorim might’ve felt fortunate when Manchester United took a late lead vs Fulham, but he wasn’t so pleased after his Red Devils frittered away their advantage at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
Amorim had seen Bruno Fernandes miss a controversially-awarded penalty in the first half, and then witnessed Leny Yoro get away with a push on Calvin Bassey en route to heading home off a corner kick in the second frame.
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But Fernandes lost track of Emile Smith Rowe with under 20 minutes to go in London, and the ex-Arsenal man leveled the score line and doomed the Red Devils to more dropped points on this young season.
What did Amorim, so pleased with his team’s home showing versus Arsenal in Week 1, say about this performance and outcome?
Ruben Amorim reaction (video) — How did Manchester United manager respond to blown lead at Fulham?
What did you make of the game? “We can do better but we are putting in the effort. That is the most important thing for me. In some moments we did well especially in the beginning in the game. After the goal we were thinking about the result, just the result. We need to focus on the performance. If we think about the results, we won’t do the things we need to do. We scored a goal and we should the opposite, have more possession. We were not smart in that moment.”
“We have to think about the performance. I’m not crazy. I know the feelings of the player that is in the team and has to win. I don’t feel a lack of urgency. We missed a penalty. We missed some chances. Then we score and it felt like the team felt like, ‘Now we need to defend.’ A different kind of urgency maybe.”
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Was Bruno Fernandes too put off by bumping into referee before penalty? “I think he’s not used to missing penalties. He knows every moment is important in this context and can have a huge impact in the team. I felt during the game he was not so involved. He has so much responsibility and I think he felt that missed penalty upset.
What’s next? “We just want to win games. They are humans. They know they are playing in one club where they need to be better. Today they worked really hard. Sometimes not in a good way but I can work with that. I’m confident that we are going to get many wins.”
Bruno Fernandes reaction (video) — Manchester United captain reacts to missed penalty, blown lead
“We can’t be satisfied with one point. We came here to win the game. We conceded a late goal and we had been defending really well.”
On if he was put off by bumping into the referee prior to his penalty kick: “You have your own routine. I was preparing myself. That hit a little of my nerves but that’s not why I missed the penalty. I kicked the ball very bad, got a little bit under it.”
How do you feel about not seeing out the game? “We’re very disappointed because we were very into the game and should’ve controlled the game after the goal. We should’ve made them run. We needed to go for the second goal. We were controlling their midfielders into the box.”
How does it feel getting to know Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko, and Bryan Mbeumo as attack mates? “They are great players for us who have great abilities. We will see much more from them. They are capable of great things and we are happy to have them on the team.”
