Amorim lays into ‘too comfortable’ Manchester United after seesaw draw at Spurs

Ruben Amorim accused Manchester United of feeling too comfortable after salvaged a draw from the jaws of defeat at Tottenham in a game they had led for long periods. Matthijs de Ligt’s 96th-minute header ensured United are five games unbeaten but their levels varied wildly in a match they controlled after Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half goal. They were overhauled by strikes from Mathys Tel and Richarlison before the last-gasp salvation act and Amorim expressed concern that they had drifted through spells of the game while ahead. Related: Explosive ending cannot mask flaws of Tottenham and Manchester United | Jonathan Wilson “We have a lot of problems, we are just in the beginning,” he said. “I know sometimes the results show people that we are improving: we are improving but we have a lot to do. We were comfortable in the game but I think we should do better, be more aggressive, feeling the environment in the stadium and that the three points were there, the space was there. “I think we felt too comfortable during the game. We need to expect that in one play anything can happen and change the mood of the stadium, and today was that. We need to do better because the game was there to take.” There was concern over an apparent knee injury to the second-half replacement Benjamin Sesko. “We think he has a problem but let’s see,” Amorim said. Amorim’s counterpart, Thomas Frank, defended his substitutions after a negative response from the home crowd when he withdrew Xavi Simons for Mathys Tel in the 79th minute. Tel duly equalised five minutes later and there were also important impacts from the bench by Wilson Odobert and Destiny Ugodie, who both registered assists. “Sometimes you’re lucky,” he said. “But I would say that every single time I take a decision to sub a player it’s with one aim: try to win the game. And no doubt [Tel] did well, got the goal, a great moment.” Spurs had not won a league game at home since beating Burnley on 16 August but, despite the agonisingly close call, Frank felt they are moving in the right direction. “I know we need to win before we don’t talk about [the home form],” he said. “But the way we turned it around to stay in the game, I’m very, very happy with that. So close to winning it, and every other day we win it.“Overall it was a good performance against a good Manchester United team that’s definitely in flow.”