Amorim took off his captain with United chasing the game (Picture: Getty)
Ruben Amorim has explained he was forced to substitute his captain Bruno Fernandes because he was ‘too tired’ in Manchester United’s defeat to Nottingham Forest.
United suffered their second defeat in a week with Forest leaving Old Trafford with a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.
With the sides level at the break, the hosts endured a disastrous second-half with a woefully loose pass from Fernandes inviting Forest forward with Andre Onana too easily beaten by Morgan Gibbs-White’s shot.
Chris Wood added another eight minutes later to leave United desperately chasing the game.
Fernandes pulled one back on the hour mark, picked out by Amad Diallo after his brilliant run before lashing a fine effort into the back of the net.
The Portugal international started the move himself, freeing Amad with a superb cross-field pass before getting it back to score from the edge of the box.
But 15 minutes later with his side still chasing an equaliser, Fernandes was replaced with Mason Mount brought on.
Fernandes pulled one back shortly before he was subbed off (Picture: Getty)
Squad rotation has been a key feature of Amorim’s plans since arriving at Old Trafford with the head coach also admitting after Wednesday’s defeat at Arsenal his skipper was ‘tired’.
Quizzed on his decision to withdraw arguably United’s best player at such a key juncture in the game, Amorim told Sky Sports: ‘Bruno was too tired.
‘And I wanted Mason Mount to play that position in that second midfield position a little bit on the left for Josh [Zirkzee] play with Rasmus [Hojlund] to have some combinations.’
Defeat for United leaves them slumped 13th in the Premier League table. Their fixture run throughout December does not get any easier with a trip to Manchester City awaiting next Sunday.
Fernandes was replaced by Mason Mount (Picture: Getty)
‘It’s annoying goals of course, we need to do better, specifically on corners, we’ve conceded too much now but I’m sure we’ll improve,’ Rasmus Hojlund said post-match.
‘I think maybe the opponent was thinking [we lacked confidence at corners. I think it’s more about us being in a new position, new ideas, new set-piece coach, but we need to understand his ideas.
‘It’s a lot to take in but we need to deal with it, we are Manchester United and we need to do better.
‘There’s a lot of games left but it’s not an ideal situation, but we need to try and stay positive.’