Ruben Amorim believes Manchester United were a “different team” against Liverpool as they secured an unlikely point at Anfield
The Reds were held to a 2-2 Premier League draw by their bitter North West rivals
Amad Diallo equalised for the visitors 10 minutes from time after Lisandro Martinez’s opener had been wiped out by Cody Gakpo and a Mohamed Salah penalty.
United went into the game having lost five of their last six league matches and were thumped 3-0 by Liverpool at Old Trafford back in September.
And Amorim hailed his team for having demonstrated a much-improved mentality against the Premier League leaders.
Amorim
“I want to see my team to play so much better,”
“But I think the most important thing to address today is the mentality. That is the key for it.
“Today we were a different team not because of the system or the technical aspect of the game, we faced a competition the way we are supposed to face it every day, whether in training or a match. It doesn’t matter the place or opponent, we need to face every day like that.
“I am trying to push this team every day. I’m always challenging these players in everything I do as I feel everyone, not just the players, is too comfortable.
“Sometimes you need a shock and you can see today we were a different team”
“I think it is a very good sign. It’s really clear. We lost three games in a row at home, some of the games we conceded two goals without doing anything.
“Today I’m allowed to be the only guy to be upset with the team but today we were a team.”
United had the rare luxury of a full week to prepare for the game, but Amorim dismissed suggestions the improved performance was solely down to work on the training pitch.
“Of course when you train you understand better the way you play the tactics but I don’t want to use that today,” said the United boss. “Today was about the focus when you are playing football, the focus on passing the ball not in a sloppy way.
“You can’t lose the ball in some parts of the pitch as you know you are going to suffer with Diaz and Salah. If you have that mentality every day you are a different team.
“The end of the season is so long away. We have had some good games in the last month but then we drop again.
“We need to be consistent. We can talk but we need to show it. The best thing is to do that tomorrow in training.”
United could have snatched an undeserved victory in the last minute when Harry Maguire missed an open goal
And Amorim added: “When we were losing 2-1 you felt we could draw and could have won at the end. It was the perfect decision (from Zirkzee) he could have shot and put the ball more in the centre, Josh made a good decision in my opinion.”
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