Matheus Cunha out again as Manchester United head to Crystal Palace for EPL game
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Manchester United's Matheus Cunha is still injured and will miss the trip to Crystal Palace.
LONDON – Manchester United will be without Matheus Cunha for their Premier League trip to Crystal Palace on Nov 30, another setback for manager Ruben Amorim as the forward’s explosive creativity was sorely missing in the 1-0 loss to Everton on Nov 24.
The Brazilian, who picked up a knock in training ahead of the Everton clash, is sidelined along with striker Benjamin Sesko and defender Harry Maguire.
“Sesko (needs) a little bit more time. Harry the same. Matheus (might be available) the next game, not this one,” Amorim said on Nov 28.
United head into this weekend 10th on 18 points, two points behind fifth-placed Palace. Despite a five-game unbeaten run before the home loss to Everton, the Portuguese is not satisfied.
“I think I look at the games, we should have more points,” he said, in reference to draws with Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest. “Because we had control of some games, we had the advantage in some games, and we lost that control.
“And that is really disappointing, really frustrating, especially in the last game.”
He had said after the loss that his team were nowhere near the level they should be at.
When asked how to avoid a tailspin run of poor results like last season when they stumbled to 15th, the United boss said: “We need to understand that, especially in our league this year, everything can change really fast. So let’s go again and focus on the next one.
“We have to feel that urgency of winning games, we know what happened around the club if we don’t win games.”
United have just one away win this season – at Liverpool on Oct 19.
“It’s hard to point to one thing why we are not winning away. There’s a lot of issues we are improving. We need to know how to finish the games in order to win,” Amorim added.
“I felt during this (season) that when we play at home, the intensity was higher, (but) I felt in this game at home (on Monday), the intensity was not at the same level. So I think (it) is something that we need to work on.”
While United have a poor away run, Palace are wounded by a 2-1 loss at Strasbourg in midweek in the Conference League, which also meant that the Eagles have played an additional game this week.
Amorim, however, does not believe his team have an advantage. “I said the same thing last year when we were in Europe and I say the same thing this year: there (is an) advantage and disadvantage of not being in Europe. There are no excuses. We have to always win games,” the 40-year-old said.
“They are a different club (to us) and they are doing things better than us so that is quite simple. They are doing things really well and they play more in transition than us. We have to look at all of these things when we compare our teams but of course, in every position, we can do so much better.” REUTERS