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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has suggested Rasmus Hojlund is overthinking his game, as the striker endured another horror performance in the club’s 1-0 defeat to ASEAN All-Stars.
Maung Maung Lwin put ASEAN All-Stars 1-0 up with 20 minutes to play in Kuala Lumpur.
United were lethargic and devoid of inspiration, and no player embodied that more than Hojlund, who started the match and played the entire first half.
As was the case for most of the just-concluded 2024/25 season, Hojlund struggled even with the fundamentals of a striker, like holding up the ball and linking up play.
His poor showing was made even more glaring by Chido Obi’s encouraging and energetic display in the second half.
After the final whistle, Amorim was asked whether Hojlund is lacking in confidence. The United head coach answered, “Sometimes, you can overthink the situation.”
“Sometimes, you go to holidays and arrive on the first day now to start for a new season and even the environment in the changing ground can help a player get a different confidence.”
“That is our expectation. Like I said, if you look at all the data, we have improved in the last games but we have a lack of goals. We will try to assess that and be prepared for that first game in the Premier League.”
United were booed at full-time by a section of the 72,5550 supporters who turned up to watch the game.
On this, Amorim said, “I feel always guilty. I said that in the last game. I’m always guilty of the performance of the team. No matter what. Since I’m here for the first day, I am guilty. Then the boos from the fans is something that we need maybe because every game we lost in the Premier League, they were always there.”
“So it’s like if the way of playing they see is not working, they will change the way they behave. But I felt then like we finish, walk away and, every time, the supporters were with us. Again, let’s wait for the next season.”
Asked to give his assessment of the game, Amorim told reporters, “Of course, we should perform better. We were slow and we have to have it in us to win every exercise in training and every game. But the important thing is that we didn’t have any injuries. Some players were a risk but we wanted to respect all of the fans put all the players in the game. We should win these games but we move on.”
The Portuguese coach added about his players lacking belief, “Today was completely different. I felt during and also in some games, also against Liverpool and Manchester City, that we started believing and started playing different football.”
“It’s something we need to change in our team but we will change also with confidence. We just need to focus on that first game of the Premier League, that is our focus now.”
Amorim emphasised that his primary concern is on the first Premuer League game of next season.
“We played quite well in the last game of the Premier League against a team trying to get into the Champions League. Today was completely different. My biggest concern is every game, every small-sided game on the street, we need to have that feeling.”
“We need to win every game, every exercise. It’s something we need to push for the players. But the way I play is the same as other coaches. You have an idea and stick with your ideas. You can change something but I’m just one more coach who reached this level by believing in certain things.”
“We will, of course, need to improve but I’m really confident.”
United are believed to be on the brink of completing the signing of Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Asked about Cunha, Amorim responded, “You have to wait for that for the next season. It’s something for you guys, also to take the opportunity as it’s your time, but I will not confirm anything. I have no news. We will see but there will be some changes.”
United travel to Hong Kong next up to take on a Hong Kong team in the final game of their post-season tour.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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