Manchester United had extended their unbeaten run to five games, the longest under Ruben Amorim, but the Portuguese head coach was far from impressed. “We have a lot of problems,” he gravely warned.
Amorim was left to lament a befuddling 2–2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. United were well worth their first-half lead and were still 1–0 up in the 84th minute before conspiring to concede twice in the space of six minutes. Matthijs de Ligt rescued a point for the visitors but could not sweeten his manager’s sour mood.
It was put to Amorim that his side had undergone a remarkably similar helter-skelter trajectory last weekend against Nottingham Forest; taking the lead before slipping to a 2–1 deficit only to emerge with a share of the spoils. Is this a problem, Amorim was asked. “We have a lot of problems,” the 40-year-old sighed in his press conference, “we are just in the beginning.
“I know sometimes the results show people that we are improving: we are improving but we have a lot to do. We were comfortable in the game but I think we should do better, be more aggressive, feeling the environment in the stadium and that the three points were there, the space was there.”
United were notably restrained after the half-time interval, content to sit back and absorb while taking just one shot before Tottenham’s entirely unexpected turnaround forced the visitors out of their slumber.
“I think we felt too comfortable during the game,” Amorim explained. “We need to expect that in one play anything can happen and change the mood of the stadium, and today was that. We need to do better because the game was there to take.”
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Amorim told postmatch, “we are at the beginning of becoming a strong team, so we have a lot to do.”
