Rio Ferdinand has offered words of encouragement to Leny Yoro after the Manchester United defender appeared distraught following Sunday’s win over Crystal Palace.
The Red Devils enjoyed a much-needed, morale-boosting win at Selhurst Park hot on the heels of Monday’s catastrophic defeat against 10-man Everton at Old Trafford.
Second half goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount completed a spirited second half comeback that put a different complexion on a week that began with Amorim again needing to justify his tactics and team selection.
While he would’ve been reluctant to take credit for the win yesterday, Amorim’s decision to remove Yoro from the fray 10 minutes after the restart paid dividends.
Yoro endured a torrid afternoon and while he is far from alone in having struggled to deal with the physical threat offered by Jean-Philippe Mateta, hauling him off represented a tough but correct call from his manager.
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The concession of a first-half penalty following a rash and needless challenge on the Palace centre forward represented the low point of an error-strewn display.
Yoro, who joined United 18 months ago in a £52million transfer from Lille, was clearly upset as he took his place on the bench and was unwilling to take a full part in the post match celebrations.
Responding to a picture of Yoro being consoled by matchwinner Mount, Ferdinand, who has been a big advocate of the young Frenchman’s talents, wrote on X: ‘This game can send you crazy at times.
‘Use these learnings as fuel. He’s a young player + will bounce back.
‘Hard work, dedication and his talent is tops. New day tomorrow.’
Amorim, meanwhile, joked United were ‘stealing’ set-piece routines after a second-half turnaround.
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Zirkzee levelled nine minutes into second half after he collected Bruno Fernandes’ free kick.
United captain Bruno Fernandes then teed up Mount to curl home the winner after 63 minutes from a quickly-taken free kick.
It made it four wins in seven under Amorim and United are only four points off rivals Manchester City after another away match where they have scored from a set-piece following goals at Nottingham Forest and Tottenham in November from corners.
‘We have more time to work and we work a lot and we are learning,’ Amorim acknowledged.
‘We learn a lot in England. You are used to do that and see that (set-piece), but when you come to the Premier League, you learn a lot about how other the teams do it.
‘And we are stealing a lot of things to score goals.’