Ruben Amorim has hinted Manchester United will use a direct approach against Liverpool at Anfield.
Senne Lammens made his debut against Sunderland before the international break and the goalkeeper punted most of his goal kicks long, which helped United move up the pitch.
Benjamin Sesko was found regularly by Lammens and speaking after the victory, Mason Mount said about the goalkeeper’s impressive impact: “It was a solid performance. Any danger of them pressing, he puts it into Ben [Sesko] and we work off that. I think he kind of released the pressure a lot.”
Amorim spoke to journalists at Carrington on Friday afternoon. United’s head coach was asked about the direct approach and hinted that supporters could see the same against Liverpool this weekend.
“I think if you look at nowadays, every time the ball goes to the goalkeeper, most of the teams play man-to-man,” said Amorim. “Sometimes you don’t have anyone to play and you try to use the first ball with the second ball and try to win.
“When you have players with a lot of power in front and now we have it. If we win one second ball, we can take all that build-up from the game and have the opportunity to score.
“I think everyone is doing that. Senne has one ability that is really good. He can play with both feet. It’s harder for the opponents to try to make the pressure from one side or the other.
“They know that he can kick the ball with both feet and I think that is really important. But he also needs to be ready. People are seeing the games. Understanding that it takes a little bit of time to choose.
“He needs to be ready for the Premier League. It’s something that you use if it’s man-to-man in front. You are not building up. You can put the ball in one against one up front and that is the play.”
United have not won at Anfield since 2016 when Louis van Gaal was in charge, but Amorim said his players have enough reasons to be motivated without showing them old away victories.
Amorim said: “I have so many things to use [motivation techniques] with our players. Like winning back-to-back games, to have that momentum that can change completely. I felt the game against Chelsea when we won the week was so different. We have a lot of things to use with the players.
“I think they don’t remember these games [wins at Anfield]. Football players nowadays don’t watch many games, unfortunately. We have so much to use. That is not the hardest part.
“We have so much to win if we perform and win the next game. I don’t need to use those games [United wins at Anfield] in the past. We just need to show them what that could bring for our future.”
Anfield will be raucous on Sunday afternoon. “We showed last year,” said Amorim about whether his players will handle the occasion. “I think the way we start the game is more important than the environment. The environment can change. Of course there will be a corner, an opportunity.
“The environment is going to be loud. But we are ready to play with that. If you look at last year, sometimes we play better in that kind of environment than under the pressure at home. We never know what is going to happen.
“It’s really important to start the game well. To do a really good warm-up. To have a feeling. To understand that it’s going to be tough in the first moments. I know they are ready. But we need to prepare for the impact, especially for the beginning of the game.”
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