New Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim celebrated victory on his Old Trafford debut thanks to a thrilling 3-2 Europa League triumph against Bodo/Glimt – but admitted to a sense of anxiety as his players try to understand his demands.
The scream of relief the 39-year-old let out as Rasmus Hojlund scored the first of his two goals to level the contest at half-time underlined the strain Amorim is under.
The Portuguese has moved clubs – a third of the way through the season – with a determination to implement a wing-back formation United have no recent history of using. And this at a point in the campaign when fixture congestion is at its greatest.
Amorim had two full training sessions with his entire squad before his first game at Ipswich on Sunday, and two more in the build-up to this European success.
“I get anxious because I don’t know what will happen,” he told TNT Sports. “We don’t control anything at the moment.
“I don’t know the players and we have not worked a lot together.
“We go to the game excited, but at the same time you are nervous because you don’t know how the game will go.”
“We improved different things since the last game,” he said. “We controlled more of the tempo, pushed the team a bit higher (up the pitch) and created more chances.”
Amorim’s complaint was that “we should kill the game before the end”, as he lamented two wasted opportunities for Garnacho and another that substitute Marcus Rashford flashed across goal, all in the second half.
“I like the way the players tried to play our game,” he added.
“Sometimes we won the ball and have had problems in the past giving the ball away too much – the mindset is keeping the ball.
“They are really trying and I think we deserved the win.”
