Ruben Amorim calls out four Man Utd stars despite dramatic Southampton win

Manchester United were saved from defeat to Southampton by Amad Diallo’s hat-trick heroics and Ruben Amorim believes the Red Devils’ issues at Old Trafford were clear on Thursday

Ruben Amorim has called out four of his Manchester United stars despite his side’s 3-1 victory over Southampton.

The Red Devils were heading for defeat at Old Trafford before Amad once again performed heroics for United by bagging a late hat-trick to spare their blushes. A Manuel Ugarte own-goal had seen the home side go into the break a goal behind, but also as a distant second best.

Amorim was left unimpressed with some of the spine of his team. The 39-year-old identified Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Leny Yoro were unable to stick to their task and as a result put pressure on the team.

The United boss was asked by Paul Scholes whether he put United’s performance down to tiredness or a lack of enthusiasm. Amorim responded that is team are still finding it difficult to press on the front foot.

“It’s not just tiredness but playing in this stadium we lost the last three games here,” Amorim explained on TNT Sports. “The pressure is different because we try to press the opponent in build up and you can feel the difficulties. Then Matheus [Fernandes] between the lines and [Tyler] Dibling between the lines created a lot of problems and we had difficulty to press high in the moment.

“This team is not used to doing that. Then it seems like lack of enthusiasm. So Ugarte is late, Kobbie Mainoo is late, Bruno going outside, the ball is inside. Then one transition and Leny Yoro cannot catch the guy. These small things push the team behind and then we get nervous without the ball.

“Then when you have one click, one goal, one opportunity – you feel the team can control the game. I want to be fair with my team. Today was not a lack of enthusiasm, it was a lack of speed and sometimes lack of control of the game.”

Amad was left in a more positive mood following his three-goal outing however. The young winger, who extended his contract recently, was moved higher up the pitch in the second period and took advantage late on.

“I feel good,” he told the BBC. “I am so happy to score my first hat-trick at Old Trafford. But for me, the most important thing was to win this game and I am happy for the club that we could win it.

“I am so happy for the goal against Liverpool and also today. But the most important thing was to win and I am happy for that.

“I think the team believed till the end. Today we showed that we were the best team on the pitch. We were going to win this game and we did it in the end.

“It’s important to win. This gives us the confidence for the next match. We have to keep going like this and play like this. I believe in this team. We can win every match. We showed at the end that we were very good.”

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