‘I don’t care what Slot is saying’: Ruben Amorim hits back at Liverpool manager

Ruben Amorim has insisted that he does not care about Arne Slot’s apparent criticism of Manchester United’s style of play in their 2-1 victory against Liverpool last Sunday.

Liverpool’s head coach cited United’s “low block” and “long balls” after United’s first win at Anfield since 2016. Slot sought to point out that his comments had been complimentary when speaking on Friday. Speaking himself soon after, Amorim gave his response to the Dutchman’s initial comments. “I don’t care what Slot is saying, what people are saying about our team,” he said. “I can watch the game and say we can do better and we need to do better in the future but sometimes you need to adapt to the game. So I don’t need anyone to evaluate my team. I can evaluate my team and I am really clear that we should play better with the ball and we are going to try to do that in this game.”

Bruno Fernandes will make his 300th appearance for United when Brighton visit Old Trafford on Saturday and Amorim was asked who beyond the captain maintains the standards expected at the club. “Harry Maguire. Diogo Dalot tries to do that,” he said. “Luke Shaw can show in some moments by the way he plays, when he’s so focused. I think Nous [Mazraoui] has a good impact. Licha [Lisandro Martínez], he is really important in this.”

Victory over Liverpool means United have finally won two Premier League games in a row under Amorim. “It has to do a lot with attitude,” the Portuguese said when asked how this was achieved. “I’m not saying my players don’t want to win or run, but we need to sometimes [when] it’s getting harder [in matches] to force ourselves to do the basics. If you look at Brighton and the way they play, every team that pressed a little higher struggled and they won. We need to be prepared – not just against the top teams but against opponents that are [also] really good.”

Bruno Fernandes holds a commemorative shirt ahead of his 300th appearance for Manchester United. Photograph: Zohaib Alam/MUFC

Fernandes joined United from Sporting for £46.5m in January 2020 and has been one of the few consistently high performers for the club in the intervening years. The 31-year-old considered joining Al-Hilal in the summer after the Saudi Arabian club made a £100m offer for him but decided to remain at Old Trafford after speaking to his family and Amorim. Talking before his landmark game for United, the Portuguese, whose contract expires in June 2028, insisted he will discuss his future again only after next summer’s World Cup.

“I’ve seen a lot of people talking that I had an agreement to go already next season. If the club has done that agreement, it wasn’t with me,” said Fernandes. “I haven’t spoken with anyone. I could tell you that there are still people talking to me and saying that they will be very eager to have me next year, of course. But from my side, that’s not talked about. Because my agent also knows how I work, so if he wants to talk to me, it will be after the World Cup. Because until then, I won’t speak to anyone.”

Fernandes went on to say that Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, who signed for United in the summer, are the type of personalities United require, before going on to to praise their fellow new recruits Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens. “We need big characters because at this club being good players sometimes is not enough because of the pressure,” said the captain. “Cunha has that good arrogance to do the good things. Bryan, the same. He’s not afraid to take the ball, do his play. We brought two players who were aware of the Premier League also. And then we bought a very young goalkeeper [Lammens] and a centre-forward [and] they hit the ground flying [running]. We know Ben will be judged by scoring goals or not. But apart from that, he’s been doing great. He’s got his goals already [too].

“Sometimes I get upset with [Mbeumo] in training because he’s like, one touch more, and I say: ‘Bryan, you don’t need that. You can one touch and shoot because you’re more than able. You did that against us when you were at Brentford. You just have to make it for us now. The shirts have changed, but you’re the same player so we need that from you.’”