Amorim’s dig at ‘naive’ Man Utd star exposes major flaw as ‘struggling’ teammate provides answer

Ruben Amorim has needlessly hit out at a Manchester United star, but a “struggling” teammate offers a solution to his side’s problems in attack…

Amorim is nothing if not honest, but there are times when he is too straight-talking for his own good as he should keep his cards closer to his chest.

There was an example of this during his latest press conference on Wednesday afternoon, during which he spoke about young Man Utd centre-back Leny Yoro being withdrawn early in Sunday’s 2-1 comeback win against Crystal Palace.

The Red Devils pulled off a major coup to sign 20-year-old Yoro ahead of Real Madrid in 2024, and his overall form over the past 18 months as one of United’s stronger performers has proven that he was worth the hype.

However, Yoro is still learning his trade and there will be games that he is not at his best, with the Palace match being one example, as he “naively” conceded a penalty as Man Utd deservedly fell behind before the break.

Yoro’s response to this bad moment was pretty good, but Amorim decided to take him out of the firing line regardless and has now added insult to injury by highlighting the defender’s major flaw publicly.

“I also spoke with him because he thinks too much, he makes a mistake and then he struggles,” Amorim admitted to reporters on Wednesday.

“He wants to do everything so well. He’s growing, with games and with setbacks, it’s not easy for him as a young guy.

“He cannot show that to the people the way he came to the bench, he knows that. It shows he cares, he knows it wasn’t his best game. He is fit and ready for the next challenge.”

This answer from Amorim is largely positive, but the dig directed at Yoro in the opening sentence did not need to be said and could do more harm than good for the player’s confidence.

It potentially gives Amorim an easily avoided problem when he has more pressing issues to consider, including fixing Man Utd’s ineffective attack.

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Summer signings Matheus Cunha , Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko have improved Man Utd’s attack generally, but Amorim’s side have somewhat reverted as injuries have impacted them.

This was particularly the case as Man Utd failed to break down 10-man Everton, while they were hardly free-flowing in their attacking moments against Palace.

So, it is a big boost for Man Utd that Cunha is available to start following his injury absence.

Cunha has quickly struck a great partnership with Mbeumo and offers Man Utd great creativity and work rate. Amorim’s side will immediately be a more threatening unit with him back in the side, and he has been sent a message to reach new heights.

“He has more levels to go,” Amorim added when asked about Cunha’s return to full fitness.

“He’s at a different club, different pressure, he was struggling because he was not scoring and because of social media abuse, he was thinking too much about the numbers but the influence he has in the team is important to us.

“I think he has so much to grow offensively and defensively.”