Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim admitted he hasn’t always been impressed with his current attacking trident.
The Red Devils are preparing to host Manchester City in Sunday’s big Derby, as both clubs arrive to the contest on the back of disappointing campaigns, but at least Pep Guardiola’s men still have a concrete objective to fight for in the Premier League, as they aim to lock down a Champions League spot next season. On the other hand, the Red Devils have already turned their attention towards the Europa League.
Ruben Amorim’s men currently sit in a woeful 13th place in the standings, with their attacking shortcomings identified as one of the main reasons behind their calamitous campaign. For instance, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund only have three league goals each, while Alejandro Garnacho hasn’t been as influential as last season.
Therefore, Amorim bluntly acknowledges that these three players have been lacking quality this term.
“I think they need to spend more time in that position (the final third) because we didn’t have a lot of games like Nottingham, like just attacking,” said the Portuguese in his interview with Sky Sports.
“We have to spend more time there. And also in that moment, if you look at Rasmus (Hojlund) and Josh (Zirkzee) and Garna (Alejandro Garnacho) they want this, they try to shoot – especially Garna. They want it really bad, but we are not doing the things with the quality that they should do.
“So sometimes it’s hard to explain because we have the situations, everybody knows where Garna wants to put the ball, but something is missing and maybe it’s just the moment of the players.”
Ruben Amorim not impressed with Man United trio, but likes Ayden Heaven
On the other hand, Amorim has been much more satisfied with Ayden Heaven. The teenager who joined the club in January swiftly won the plaudits with his early displays at the back, with Wayne Rooney hailing him as ‘fantastic’.
Hence, the Man Utd manager applauds the club’s technical director, Jason Wilcox, for snapping up the youngster from Arsenal, suggesting the club might not have to replace the injured Lisandro Martinez in the summer.
“Yeah. And we have to give credit to Jason who did a great job. He’s paying attention to those details. Ayden is a kid that arrives here, worked really well and then with some injuries, he had the opportunity and shows a lot of qualities. So that can also change your recruitment.
So if we we’re thinking ‘Licha [Lisandro Martinez] has an injury, we need a left-footed centre-back’, but now we have this kid, so we can save money for another thing. So that is really important and the door is open for young kids.”
Heaven himself picked up a knock recently, but his ...
