Ruben Amorim has admitted his Manchester United players are finding if difficult to play at Old Trafford with the team's struggles on home turf now a huge problem.
United entertain Glasgow Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday having lost 3-1 at home to Brighton at the weekend – their fourth home defeat in five league games.
It was also United's sixth home loss in 12 games this season, their worst run of form since 1893-94, which is a major reason why they languish down in 13th place in the Premier League table.
After the Brighton loss, Amorim described United's form as “maybe the worst” in the 147-year history of the club.
The Portuguese coach has seen his team collect 11 points in 11 league games since replacing the sacked Erik ten Hag in November. And ahead of taking on Scottish side Rangers, Amorim admits their Old Trafford form is a huge concern.
“We are more nervous playing at home than away because we've lost four games in five at home and it is getting harder,” he said on Wednesday.
“The first thing in my mind is that we need to score the first goal. If we score the first goal then that will change and we will play better at home.
“I think it is really clear – we are really anxious playing at home and it is getting harder to play at Old Trafford.”
When asked whether calling his team “nervous” is helpful to his players, the former Sporting Lisbon coach gave a bullish response.
“If you want I can be delusional and say different things,” he said. “I say it as I see it. I said it to the players and I said it to you – I think it's a good thing to be really honest.
“If you want me to say different things, I can start to do that because it is easier for me. If you are in the stadium you can feel it but I am not nervous, I am frustrated.”
Ten Hag was dismissed from his job due to poor results and the fact players are currently performing worse than under the Dutchman is not lost on Amorim.
A mini-revival at the start of January saw them draw at runaway leaders Liverpool, seal a penalty shoot-out win over Arsenal in the FA Cup and then beat Southampton in an all-too rare home victory.
But they were actually staring defeat in the face against rock-bottom Saints until a late Amad Diallo hat-trick turned the game on its head.
But there was no such rescue act against Brighton, who were helped by a dreadful error by United goalkeeper Andre Onana for Georginio Rutter's third goal.
“I am not taking responsibility away from the players,” Amorim added when asked about his post-match comments at the weekend.
“What I am saying is, the message you guys showed is that I was putting it on the players. What I am saying is, you have to look really hard to find a Manchester United team that in 10 games lost seven of them, and that is on me.
“It is the same players doing worse with a new coach. That is my only concern at the moment. I am not taking responsibility away from the players but we need to improve in the details and I've explained that.
“The way we play, we are too nervous with the ball. It wasn't the best point to make after that loss but it is what it is and I am like that all the time. I am really direct with things and I am saying in this moment, we are performing really bad and our results are really bad.
“It is everything together – the players, the staff, the technical staff. I am the biggest one responsible because I am the coach.”
Also speaking at the pre-match press conference was defender Harry Maguire, who admitted the team has been lacking focus in key moments this season.
“We have to stop giving away the first goal,” said the experienced England centre-half. “The first goal against Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth were set-plays, the first goal against Southampton was from a set-play.
“These aren't things that are tactically a problem – these are things that you have to go into a game focused on and mentally ready to win a football match.
“Football matches are sometimes defined on small margins and at the moment we aren't getting those because we aren't mentally focused enough to make them go our away.”
United are currently seventh out of 36 teams in the Europa League table after winning three and drawing three of their six games so far.
The top eight teams automatically qualify for the last-16 with the next 16 taking part in the knockout phase play-offs.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
More on animal trafficking
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
