Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim sees progress but more work to be done

LONDON – Manchester United’s ability to keep their cool after conceding goals in their past two games shows the team have made progress, manager Ruben Amorim said ahead of an English Premier League clash at Leicester City on March 16.

The Red Devils held off second-placed Arsenal to claim a point in a 1-1 league draw last week, before fighting back from a goal down to beat Real Sociedad 4-1 in midweek to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.

“I feel that in the last games that we can understand better the idea of what we want to do. We are better understanding the plan for the games,” Amorim said.

“We are not suffering one goal and then losing our minds by suffering another goal. We are understanding the moments of the game and also we are understanding better the way we want to play.

“I know that in football, especially in our moment, we can have a really good moment and then drop really fast. So our focus is to continue and don’t be too happy or too depressed. My idea is to continue, we have to survive.”

United head into this weekend 14th on 34 points from 28 matches and will be looking to climb up the standings with a win at 19th-placed Leicester, who have lost their last five league games.

The two teams last met in February in the FA Cup fourth round, with Amorim’s men winning 2-1 against former United striker and caretaker manager Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side.

“Everything is important and we need to continue with this feeling that we can win games. It doesn’t matter the time of rest or the time after to prepare for the next game,” Amorim added.

“We can do it. We showed against Arsenal that we have to be humble and we (often) forget that. Forget the table and face Leicester like we did against Real Sociedad.

“We just need to win and improve our position in the table and the most important thing is to continue this feeling of winning and that we are improving as a team.”

The Portuguese also praised 18-year-old defender Ayden Heaven, who was signed from Arsenal in February and has impressed in recent appearances.

“If he continues like that, he is going to play. Of course, he is young and he didn’t play much this season, maybe only 45 minutes for the Under-21s, then a few minutes here and now a full game (against Sociedad),” Amorim said.

“I really like his confidence. I like his pace, I think he is good in defending the box and I think he is quite complete. But he has a lot of work to do in the Premier League.”

Meanwhile, the under-pressure van Nistelrooy has warned his side to be wary of a United team on the up.

“United are in a better place than the time we played them in the Cup. They had a very good game against Arsenal and they were very strong against Real Sociedad,” he said.

“Great boost they are in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Bruno (Fernandes) is in great form and very decisive in that team. It’s a team that has some momentum going.” REUTERS