Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has expressed confidence that Noussair Mazraoui will be ready to play against Athletic Club in the Europa League semi-final on Thursday after being taken off in the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth.
Rasmus Hojlund scored deep into stoppage time to snatch a valuable point for United after Antoine Semenyo had given the hosts the lead in the first half.
Mazraoui was on the receiving end of an aggressive sliding challenge from Evanilson, for which the Brazilian striker was shown a red card.
Mazraoui was taken off shortly and Amorim has revealed he made the change to protect the Moroccan.
Amorim spoke to reporters in his post-match press conference and also gave his verdict on the result and the upcoming Europa League meeting with Athletic Club.
“It was a tough game. The start of the game was hard for us – high pressure from the opponent and we lost some possessions in our build-up and the goal is like that. If you look at our games, it’s always a little bit our fault the way we suffer, suffer goals and then everything is so much harder to do.”
“But if you look at the game, especially the second half and especially with the send-off, we had ways to get inside the box and that is something that we are improving.”
“We create chances and we managed to score one but I feel that we lost two points today.”
Asked about his substitutions, Amorim said, “It was just to adapt and you can see that we change a lot of players, who were in positions they never played, so it was not a tactical aspect. It was just also to understand the players that it will have in extra time.”
“So if you suffer a goal in transition, you lose your head. You have 10 more minutes but if they score one goal in transition, one against one it could kill the game. So these small things are not so much about the tactical aspect.”
On Mazraoui, Amorim stated, “I think hes okay. He will be ready [for Athletic Bilbao].”
“In these kind of situations, in this moment, anything that could be a danger for a player in that position, we lost Dalot, we try to save that [player].
Alejandro Garnacho was also the subject of a heavy tackle that left him writhing in pain. Asked for his opinion on such a challenge, Amorim said, “Nothing to say. It’s the Premier League and we need to play like that because it’s the way want the game [to be played].”
“Sometimes things happen but I have nothing to say about that.”
On whether it was his intention to keep Hojlund on for as long as possible to help him score a goal, Amorim told reporters, “I see the trainings, I see the way they behave, the way they want to improve. I see the games also and I try to put the best XI to win games. That’s all.”
“I want to support my players. I was a player and sometimes you have bad moments, difficult moments in a big club, so I think it was a good moment for him but it’s just a goal. Let’s focus on Thursday.”
On whether the plan was for Luke Shaw to play 90 minutes, Amorim said, “No. It was not the plan but you need to win games. So you can feel that it was overloan in that part of the field and he’s really good in crosses, he’s really good in the final third, the decision-making and he has a lot of quality.”
“In this moment when we are losing and drawing, you don’t think about the next game. You need to win and so I wasn’t focused on the next game.”
On Liverpool winning their 20th Premier League title and drawing level with United, Amorim explained, “The first thing is to focus on ourselves and not on the other teams. The next thing is to be really honest – we are at different levels in this moment.”
“But everything can change and I remember when I started seeing the Premier League, it was the opposite. So everything can change. We need to focus and go step by step, not trying to think too far ahead. We have an ultimate goal – winning the Premier League.”
“Again, I’m not crazy. I know that it’s not going to be next year but we are trying to build something and the small things are really important. We did that this year and we need to improve next year. I know that it’s important to the fans but we need to be honest with them and to work hard every day.”
On whether United will look to bring in an experienced striker in the summer, Amorim noted, “We have a lot of things to do this season. We like our strikers and we are improving our strikers. We’ll see what happens in the next season but in this season, Josh [Zirkzee] can’t play. Chido [Obi] is not in the [Europa League] list, unfortunately.
“He has the Premier League games to win every minute and work, and Rasmus is scoring, so we’ll see on Thursday.”
On how he’ll succeed where others who came after Sir Alex Ferguson failed, Amorim pointed out that he’ll continue to do what he believes in and then work hard every day irrespective of any setbacks that come along the way.
Feature image Dan Mullan via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
