Diogo Dalot has said Manchester United‘s players were motivated to earn a credible draw with Liverpool after criticism from Ruben Amorim that he does not have enough leaders at Old Trafford.
United ended a run of four straight defeats with a 2-2 draw against the Premier League leaders at Anfield on Sunday. It came after Amorim said in his pre-match news conference that the team is “starved of leaders.“
Dalot, who was superb against Liverpool, admitted afterwards that the comments made an impression on the squad and called on his teammates to continue to show the motivation and desire they displayed against Arne Slot’s side.
“It pinched me,” Dalot said when asked about Amorim’s criticism. “I think that’s what he wanted for every player.
“I’ve been here for a while. I know that I can step up a little bit more as well in that level and I’m going to try to help my teammates for as long as I can. You could see that we were more of a team, that was the biggest difference.
“I think that’s what we need to build more, a proper team, fighting for the badge and then the result I think will come.”
The draw at Anfield came after Amorim had a free week to prepare his players with five days on the training pitch following the 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle.
Dalot says the extra time was a big factor in helping to secure a positive result against Liverpool because everyone was “on the same page.”
“It’s time on the pitch, know what everybody wants to do, almost like trusting ourselves that everybody will be in the right position to play in every aspect of the game in every inch of the pitch,” he said.
“So I think that’s it. When you have time to know what to do, I think it becomes more natural. And you saw the structure much more compact, probably a bit more playing almost like we knew that this player would be in that position.”
Dalot was also asked how long it will take for the performance against Liverpool to become the norm for a United team which has struggled over the last year.
“I think that’s the million dollar question for everybody but even for us we just have to, I think it’s the cliche answer, but we have to be game by game to be honest,” he said.
“There’s no point in thinking too much ahead because we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. What we know is what we can control tomorrow.
“We have a good week to train, prepare for the game against Arsenal.”
