Amorim “frustrated, angry” as Manchester United held by Nuno’s West Ham | OneFootball

Amorim and Nuno shared the points at Old Trafford

Manchester United 1-1 West Ham United

Ruben Amorim was visibly irritated after watching his Manchester United side drops points again at home in the Premier League, this time against Nuno Espírito Santo’s West Ham United.

United took a second-half lead through Portugal defender Diogo Dalot, but were pegged back by a late equaliser by Sountougou Magassa as Nuno’s side left with a point to aid their fight against relegation.

United struggled to impress on another poor night at the Theatre of Dreams, following last week’s 1-0 home defeat to Everton. The Red Devils created little before Dalot’s well-taken opener in the 58th minute, which saw him take a nice touch and finish inside the penalty area for his first-ever league goal at home.

The goal put United on the path to move up to 5th place in the league table, but the hosts experienced a drop-off in their intensity and lost control of proceedings. Amorim has already been criticised in some quarters for his substitutions in the 77th minute, which saw a double change of Matheus Cunha replaced by Mason Mount and striker Joshua Zirkzee taken off for ex-Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte.

The changes seemed to invite West Ham into the match, with Nuno making his own double switch after the Hammers won a corner on 83 minutes. Although introductions Andre Irving and Mohamadou Kante did not directly affect the corner, impressive midfielder Mangassa was on-hand to convert a loose ball after United failed to deal with the delivery.

West Ham saw out the remainder of the match with relative ease against a United who were left with little firepower. Amorim’s decision to remove forward players with less than fifteen minutes remaining will be considered a gamble, but the Red Devils had little in reserve to change the game in an attacking sense before or after West Ham’s leveller. Given the only attacking absentee was injured striker Benjamin Sesko, the lack of alternatives says plenty about the depth available to Amorim.

“[The feeling] is frustrating, angry, that’s it,” Amorim began his press conference, which he conducted with an uncharicteristic scowl across his face. “Why so many difficulties in second halves? There are second halves where we lose control of the game. Today I think was not that. After the first goal, we lost some second balls. We tried to defend far from our goal because we knew they’d try to make a cross, win a corner like happened. Long ball, they win the second ball against three of our guys in defence, so we need to be better in second halves.”

The press conference became somewhat tense when a journalist suggested to Amorim that his substitutions were “conservative” to which the Portuguese asked which attacking players he could have brought on. When the journalist suggested Kobbie Mainoo – a controversial exclusion for much of this season – Amorim grinned frustratedly before suggesting he intended for Bruno Fernandes to get close to Bryan Mbeumo, who was deployed as a makeshift striker.

When it was suggested to Amorim that United have gone backwards in recent weeks, the former Sporting boss objected. “No, it’s not going backwards. When we had that run [three wins in a row] you were talking like the team was perfect, I was saying we were far from being in a perfect moment. We are really inconsistent. But if you look at the goal: 83 minutes, long ball, we have everything under control. We need to do better.

“Do I go into the changing room to speak about this directly? No, in that regard I’m always consistent. I will talk to them tomorrow.”

Well deserved - Nuno

Nuno, on the other hand, arrived at the post-match press conference with a beaming smile, having secured a draw which means his side have lost just one of their last five league matches – against champions Liverpool last weekend – as he continues to make his mark on a team which languished in 19th place upon his arrival in September.

“I think it was a good performance overall,” he began. “The first half we contained. I think the momentum of the game even in the first half was ours – the energy was there. Very good second half even though we conceded. I think the reaction after that was very positive; we dominated, we controlled, we went for it. I think it was well-deserved that we got the draw. The game could go both ways, but pleased with the performance.

“It’s a little small step. We need to improve a lot of things. With the urgency of the situation it’s hard, but we keep going. I’m always positive. Even the subs came late because I think the boys were in control of the situation. The chance came late, but it came. I think we finished the game well.”