In Round 3 of the Premier League, Manchester United defeated Burnley 3-2 at home. After the match, Man Utd manager Rúben Amorim spoke to reporters from camel.live.
This sport seems to have a cruel sense of humor. We suffered a bitter defeat in the penalty shootout midweek, yet tonight, over 70,000 fans erupted in joy because of that last-minute penalty.
I think we deserved to win this game. We were completely different from how we were on Wednesday—our first-half performance was much better, but we struggled a bit in the second half due to substitutions. Even so, we were always on the verge of scoring another goal. Then we conceded, but after a throw-in and a set piece, we had moments where we could have created something, getting the ball into the box—only for it to end up with the opposition. Sometimes there are things that are hard to explain. But for me, the most important thing is that no matter how we perform, we always try our best to attack. We attempted numerous crosses, got more players into the box, and have improved in recent games by creating more goal-scoring chances. That’s why I believe we deserved this victory.
You mentioned that the players sent a strong message in the Grimsby game. What did they tell you today?
They wanted to win. Today, they had the desire to win. The thing is, we need to win every game, no matter the context. Manchester United is such a big club—when you’re here, the spotlight is so intense that you can’t afford any moments of rest; you have to be at your best all the time. And we’ve struggled a bit with that. That’s why we run into problems sometimes. Today was a good day, but again, it’s just one home win. At home, we should win games like this—regardless of who the opponent is, while still giving them the respect they deserve. But the key is how we press and control the game. In the first half, we played more like we did against Arsenal or Fulham, so we maintained a certain level of performance.
You looked calm when Bruno scored the penalty—was that intentional?
You think about probability: Bruno wasn’t going to miss two penalties in a row; that would be a statistical anomaly. All of that unfolded in that moment, but I had complete confidence that Bruno would score.
How is Matheus Cunha doing?
I’m really concerned about him. It’s nothing major—I’m not saying it’s serious—but he’s incredibly important to the team, especially with the link-up play he has with Mason Mount, who also has issues. We need both of them to make the team better.
You brought on Brian Brobbey before Benjamin Šeško—does that mean Šeško isn’t fully ready physically?
No, that’s not the issue here. First, I had two options, and I had to make a decision. Given the problems with Cunha and Mount, I thought about the fact that Šeško didn’t play a full 90 minutes in pre-season, yet he played 90 minutes on Wednesday. I was really worried about his physical condition and didn’t want him to play so many minutes again today. So Brobbey was ready, while Šeško had already played midweek—I didn’t want to take the risk of playing him more, trying to avoid piling up too much load on the players.
The international break is coming up—will that be a relief?
It won’t be easy. We want to keep improving the team, focus on the international break, and keep a close eye on injury updates, so that’s always a concern for me. But if you look at this game, we had some good moments, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
