United acceptable up successful a back-three — the strategy favoured by Amorim astatine his erstwhile club, Sporting Lisbon — and were indebted to goalkeeper Andre Onana for a drawstring of apical saves, peculiarly successful the archetypal half.
The combined 102 kilometres United’s players covered successful the duration of the lucifer was their second-lowest fig each season, and Amorim revealed determination is plentifulness for his broadside to improve.
The Portuguese told Sky Sports aft the match: “I deliberation my players were reasoning excessively overmuch during the game. You could consciousness it. They were reasoning not conscionable connected the shot but astir wherever they were expected to be.
Amorim drew his archetypal crippled successful complaint of Manchester United
Bradley Collyer/PA Wire
“In the archetypal half, we needed much physicality. We volition person problems; the players volition beryllium confused sometimes. But we person to address, [from] this moment, the caller ideas and effort to beryllium amended adjacent twelvemonth astatine the aforesaid stage.”
Amorim was asked by Sky Sports pundit and ex-United midfielder Roy Keane whether mediocre decision-making is an contented helium is having to resolve.
“That is simply a concern,” Amorim admitted. “We are doing immoderate things not successful the close moment. That is thing we person to address.
“Everyone talks astir the 3-4-3; that is not the concern. A strategy is simply a system, but the knowing of the crippled I deliberation we person to amended a lot. We volition request a batch of clip to amended these things.
“It was a pugnacious match. We mislaid immoderate balls without pressure. We [only] had 2 days [of training], truthful they are confused, a small bit. They are really, truly trying, and they privation this.”