Soccer
Ruben Amorim lamented Manchester United’s bad luck against Aston Villa, claiming his side were “the better team” in their 2-1 defeat.
United conceded two superb Morgan Rogers strikes on either side of Matheus Cunha’s equaliser, but they failed to fight back a second time, suffering just a second away defeat in 27 Premier League trips to Villa Park.
Amorim’s side, who lost Bruno Fernandes to injury at half-time, edged the expected goals (xG) battle, with 1.3 to Villa’s 1.0, and had 15 attempts, six of which were on target. Their hosts had 12 shots.
However, United’s wastefulness came back to haunt them, with Cunha missing a glorious header in the second half, shortly after Rogers’ second goal.
And the Red Devils have now only won one of their 14 Premier League away games against sides starting the day in the top four (D4 L9), since the start of the 2021-22 season.
“I think we were the better team today,” Amorim told Sky Sports. “We were unlucky, even with the injury of Bruno, but during the game, even without him, we were the better team.
“We blocked the transitions quite well, and they did really well. We did a very good job that no one is going to remember tomorrow because what matters is the result.
“We already knew that Aston Villa play with everybody inside, and we needed to overload that situation. We have been training like that.
“We did different options, we can use different starting elevens depending on the game, so we are improving. Again, I think we deserved so much more, but the better team did not win.”
While United’s attack has improved of late, their defensive frailties were on show once more; they have only kept one clean sheet in the Premier League this term.
It is their joint-fewest after 17 games of a top-flight campaign, along with 1961-62, 1959-60 and 1958-59.
United, who will sit seventh in the table for Christmas, are currently without a host of players, including Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo, who are on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, but Amorim is not accepting excuses.
“We need to prepare all the guys that we have for the next game,” he added.
“We cannot use anything as an excuse. No one is going to remember these problems, so let’s cope with that. It will make us stronger.
“I saw from the beginning of the season a team that is going forward, but sometimes relax a little bit, and sometimes is not there in the right moment to fight.
“This was completely the opposite; we were the better team against a team that is strong at home and in a very good run. We were really unlucky.”
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