Manager expects “a different game” against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim says his side are stronger, more mature, and overall a better team than the one that lost to Tottenham in last season’s Europa League final.
United will face Spurs once again in north London on Saturday, the first meeting with between the sides since that 1-0 defeat of United in Bilbao last May.
Amorim’s team have spent more than £200m on a new frontline since then and are quietly reaping the rewards, with an improved performance in the final third delivering three league wins in a row for the first time since Amorim arrived at the club in November last year.
United are also unbeaten in their last four matches, and could climb to second place in the Premier League with a win on Saturday.
Amorim said he believes the current United team are “a better side” than the one that were defeated in Bilbao.
“First of all, the characteristics of the players,” said Amorim. “We have different characteristics in our team. We also have a lot of players who played last year, so we are a better team. We play better. We understand the game better.
“I think we are more confident. We reached that final confident that we could win because we were doing well in Europe, but in this moment, we play with a different confidence.
“We manage the moments of the game better. But if you remember that game, they have that shot on the goal; they won the game. So I expect a different game, that we can play better, but also to have a little bit of luck to help us to win.”
After a difficult start to the season, United have started to look different to the side that finished 15th in the league last season. They beat rivals Liverpool at Anfield for the first time in nearly 10 years, and although they nearly fell to a comeback defeat against Nottingham Forest at the weekend, they stayed in the game and got an equaliser to leave City Ground with a point, Amorim saying that last season’s version of his team would have gone on to lose.
“[This season] we believe more that we can win any game,” said Amorim. “The last game [at Forest] was tough on us, because in some moments we were not the team we were supposed to be in every minute. But we are improving.”
The buildup to Saturday’s match was overshadowed by comments from Cristiano Ronaldo, who reiterated the comments he made when he left the club after a falling out with then manager Erik ten Hag in 2022, saying United were struggling because they lacked structure.
Amorim said: “What we need to do is focus on the future. We know that we, as a club, made a lot of mistakes in the past, but we are trying to change that. So let’s not focus on what happened. Let’s focus on what we are doing now.
“We are changing a lot of things, in the structure, in the way we do things, in how we want the players to behave. We are improving. So let’s continue and forget a little bit about the past.”
