Ruben Amorim says Manchester United must start playing better away from home as they head to Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest looking for only their second away win of the season.
The Red Devils arrived at the City Ground on a three-game winning streak, with Old Trafford beating Sunderland and Brighton clinching their first win at Liverpool since 2016.
But this memorable victory at Anfield represented United’s only away win of the season, which was compounded by defeats at Manchester City and Brentford, and a humiliating away defeat to Grimsby in the Carabao Cup.
Amorim said United needed to improve in a number of areas as they prepare to face Forest, who has won their last three Premier League games and was recently appointed as their third manager.
The Portuguese, who secured his first Premier League win last December with a 4-0 victory over new manager Dyche’s Everton side, says he knows “more or less” what lies ahead as he looks to turn things around away.
“I watched the last game (of his return),” Amorim said of the match he played against Forest on his first anniversary as United manager.
“It was one of the first games we won here and we were very lucky in that game. When you look at the result, it wasn’t like that. It shouldn’t have been like that.”
“I watched[Forest’s]games against Porto and Bournemouth. The style of play is similar, but there are different characteristics.
“I watched one game with Sporting in pre-season and tried to understand how they played in that game and it was similar.
“He can change the profile of players, especially with (Morgan) Gibbs-White, (Elliott) Anderson and (Callum) Hudson-Odoi, with the talent they have. They are very good players.”
“So we need to prepare for another game. Against Brighton we had space to play. We won’t have that space.”
“We need to understand that it’s not the same team away and at home, so we need to improve how we control the environment.
“Every tackle is an important moment for the opposition fans, so we need to play better on the road. We are ready for a very tough game.”
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Amorim may want to stick with the same team that beat bogey-bound Brighton last weekend with a 4-2 victory on Brian Mbeumo’s second run of the day.
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This summer’s signing has seen him link up well with right-winger Amad Diallo, and the bond extends off the pitch, but the pair will soon miss significant time due to the African Cup of Nations, which could see them miss up to seven games for the Red Devils.
“We have time to suffer for that,” Amorim said of the Cameroon and Ivory Coast internationals, who will join Morocco’s Nouser Mazraoui in this tournament.
“We were going to struggle a little bit, we already knew. Watching training, there are players who should play, so it will be an opportunity (for other players).”
“But they have performed well both in training and in matches, so it is difficult to remove some players from the team for one match.
“Other players will have a chance to help us and they understand how we want to play. If we are able to improve that, changing the characteristics will not change the idea or the momentum of the team, but let’s use Amad and Brian in these games and then see in January.”