Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has hit out at his ‘struggling’ midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who ‘needs to improve, especially in training.’
The Red Devils’ form has picked up in recent weeks, going unbeaten in five games after a bad start to the season.
Ugarte has still featured, but mainly from the bench, last starting in the disappointing 3-1 defeat to Brentford on September 27, with Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro preferred in midfield.
The 24-year-old has been failing to impress and things did not get any better over the international break as he played for Uruguay in a 5-1 defeat to USA on Wednesday.
His manager is not sugar-coating the fact Ugarte has been below par, but says he will work with the midfielder and hope to see him regain form, having known him from their time together at Sporting.
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‘You are here longer than me and you can sense that a lot of very good players come here and sometimes they struggle,’ Amorim said ahead of Monday night’s Premier League clash with Everton.
‘He is struggling in the moment, but it is our job to try to help our players and again, everything can change.
‘You saw it five weeks ago, the environment was completely different, so I know that Ugarte is struggling in the moment, and my job is trying to help him to feel as a player, like I felt when he was a Sporting player, for example.
‘But it is a different world and he needs to adapt and he needs to improve, especially in training.’
Commitment and effort in training has been vital for players to remain in Amorim’s good books during his spell at Manchester United, which should come as little surprise at a club of that stature.
The Portuguese coach is pleased with what he has seen from his players in recent weeks, beating Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton, but wants to see plenty more still.
‘I think we are better, I think we are in a better moment,’ Amorim said. ‘I think we train with a better intensity, I think we are doing the things in a better way, but we are not perfect, and when I watch trainings, when I watch games, we are far from perfection.
‘We can be perfect in the position, in the intensity, all these things, and we need to work that in training.
‘So to be really honest with you, we are better but far from perfection, and we need to do that, especially to win in this league, we need to be perfect in everything, to have a little bit of luck, to try to get to the top of the table, so we are far from the perfect environment.’
The Red Devils host Everton on Monday night and Amorim is not happy just maintaining the current undefeated run, intending to get back to winning ways after back-to-back draws with Nottingham Forest and Spurs.
‘We need to think to be six games unbeaten, but then unbeaten is not enough,’ he said.
‘I came from these last two games, but especially the last one, very frustrated. So for us it’s not enough, in this club it doesn’t matter at the moment, it’s not enough to be unbeaten. Unbeaten is not everything.’