Ruben Amorim explains why he dropped Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee in loss vs. Crystal Palace | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has revealed that he has nothing against Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund, and the decision to name them on the bench against Crystal Palace was purely motivated by tactical reasons.

Amorim elected to start Kobbie Mainoo in the false nine position – a choice that didn’t really work.

Mainoo started brightly, hitting the post in the early stages but his influence on the game waned as time went by. Eventually, he had to be taken off as United were looking for a way back into the match.

Zirkzee and Hojlund both came on but they had no impact whatsoever, as the Red Devils slipped to a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Eagles.

Asked to clarify why he snubbed his two striker options, Amorim told reporters in his post-match press conference, “Today we chose to play with Kobbie…to use the characteristics of Kobbie.”

“This is nothing against Rasmus Hojlund or Josh [Zirkzee] and sometimes the team scores goals by creating situations to use the right characteristics.”

“It doesn’t mean if we use two strikers we’re going to score more goals, so I think it’s a team problem and we spoke about that all the time. We need to improve our performance in every aspect of the game, especially scoring goals.”

On United’s woeful home form this season, Amorim said, “I think the performance improved…not a lot but I think we played better than in the other games, even against Southampton, I think we played better today.”

“But of course when you continue to lose at home, you have that feeling that the small improvements of the team mean nothing. So let’s go again and see in the next game.”

Amorim admitted that United are trying to sign players before the close of the window on Monday. He however refused to specifically answer a question about Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel.

“We are trying everything to improve the team without doing the mistakes of the past.”

“We will see. There is one more day. Let’s wait until the window is closed. We are trying the best to improve the team. This market is very hard on the clubs. To make some deals here, it’s hard.”

“We are trying everything, guys. I want so bad to improve the team. I know what the team needs.”

Amorim also said about Lisandro Martinez – who was taken off on a stretcher in the 83rd minute.

“Licha is really important for us, not just as a football player, but as a character, especially in this hard moment. Now it’s time to help Licha. I think it’s a bad situation. Let’s wait to assess things with the doctor but I think it’s a serious situation.”

Amorim was asked whether it would be embarrassing if Marcus Rashford goes to Aston Villa and scores goals there.

He answered, “Humiliating? It’s not embarrassing. When you loan a player, and I think it is not official, you expect him to play and improve so there is nothing humiliating there.”

United are back in action on Friday when they take on Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City in the FA Cup.

Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images

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