Ruben Amorim had some strong words for a £120,000-a-week Manchester United star in front of the rest of the squad at their Carrington training ground, it has been revealed.
Amorim says Man Utd “have a lot to do” after Tottenham draw
The Red Devils boss bemoaned United’s inability to kill off Tottenham and insisted they still have “lots of problems” after a dramatic 2-2 Premier League draw.
Matthijs de Ligt struck deep into stoppage time to rescue a point for United, who faced a first loss since a difficult September following Spurs goals from Mathys Tel and Richarlison.
“We have a lot of problems. We are just in the beginning. I know that sometimes the results show to people that we are improving. We are improving but we have a lot to do,” Amorim reflected candidly.
“You can divide the game into the final 10 minutes and also when we have to take out Harry Maguire, then suffer two goals and then losing Ben. To overcome everything and manage to score is a good thing.
“If you look at the rest of the game, I think we were comfortable in the game but we should do better. Be more aggressive, feeling the environment in the stadium that the three points were there, the space was there and 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. Today was that. I think we control well the game, but we need to do better because the game was there to take.”
It was the first time United faced Spurs since the Europa League final, and it has now been revealed that Amorim was fuming with one of his players after the defeat in Bilbao.
Man Utd slammed Ugarte in front of teammates during Carrington meeting
The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell wrote an in-depth story on Amorim’s first year in charge at Old Trafford.
He revealed that Amorim wasn’t happy with Manuel Ugarte following the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham and let him know in front of his Man Utd teammates during a Carrington meeting.
Amorim felt that Ugarte ‘had let his work rate slide from their time together at Sporting’ adding that the midfielder ‘had gotten comfortable and said he did not recognise him as the same player from their first stint together’.
Whitwell added that ‘criticising a former player in front of his team-mates certainly caused a ripple of reaction among those in the squad’ and ‘showed them that Amorim was hard, but broadly fair, when it came to assessing application’.
Ugarte’s Man Utd stats
Total
Games
55
Goals
2
Assists
6
Yellow cards
15
Red cards
0
Minutes played
3,239
The Uruguay international, on £120,000-a-week in Manchester, is yet to be fully trusted by Amorim during the 2025/26 season, considering that he’s started just two Premier League games so far.
Playing under 350 minutes in all competitions, Ugarte has been preferred to Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes in central midfield, so by the looks of things, he still has plenty of work to do to get back in Amorim’s good books.
