Ruben Amorim derby reaction after Man City v Man Utd | 14 September 2025

WE NEED TO BE PERFECT IN THESE GAMES

“In these kind of games, we need to be perfect and in this game we were not perfect. The frustration is always the same because of the amount of chances we need to score goals. We need to work on a lot of things for the next game. In these kind of games, with top teams, the small margins will make the difference. The performance is not good, in certain moments they were better than us and in the end you don’t have a good feeling.”

NUMBER OF MIDFIELDERS IS NOT THE PROBLEM

“It’s the same thing, it’s always the same conversation. They [City] put four in the middle, we have three central defenders and two midfielders. You can see Bryan [Mbeumo] is always inside and [Benjamin] Sesko is there, so that conversation is always the same thing. We play last year the same way – of course with difference because the opponent is playing in a different way against Liverpool, against all these teams in the same way.

“So it’s not the midfielders because, again, if you feel that what you are going to do in the first goal has to do with the amount of midfielders. Doku receives the ball, turns to the defence and then takes two guys inside the box. Then the second half, we start really well with two midfielders. You are near the box controlling the game and then throw-in, goal. Third goal, you are controlling the game, trying to open the game, Bryan has a great opportunity, Amad is pushing on the side, we had some distraction with going to the ball, Haaland has all the field to run so it’s not to do with the midfielders.

“It’s the way you want to see the games. I saw a lot of teams playing here [at the Etihad Stadium] with five midfielders just blocking and they suffer more than us. I see a lot of games from Manchester United playing here with a lot of midfielders. Opportunities sometimes with one, two, so it’s not about that. Again, sometimes we play with the three defenders, five defenders, sometimes it’s five midfielders or two midfielders. It depends on the game of the opponent.”