Amorim was frustrated with United’s lack of “smoothness” against the Premier League’s bottom club. “We struggled throughout the game,” said the United boss. “We lacked creativity, but we knew that it would be a different game compared to Newcastle. We had a different energy during the game too. If you look at the game, we had chances, but the smoothness was not there because of the lack of connection.
“This game was completely different to the last one. We had more players behind the ball and when you have more players behind the ball you have to work harder, have more imagination to play the game in a different way. We lacked that quality. We won’t use that as an excuse [kurangnya pemain]. But I understand why we lack fluidity and one-on-ones.”
And Amorim defended his decision to replace Zirkzee, stating: “We ran around trying to recover the ball. They added a lot of midfielders and we struggled with that and sometimes you can attack better with fewer strikers. We played with three strikers, [Matheus] Cunha, Josh, dan [Benjamin] Sesko, and sometimes that’s not the best way to attack well.
“The players tried. We didn’t play well and when you don’t play well with the ball, you also struggle without the ball. We need to recover and move on to the next game.”
After two consecutive home games, United kick off 2026 with trips to Leeds and Burnley as they look to get back to winning ways in the New Year.
