Footballers don’t watch enough matches, laments Ruben Amorim

Ruben Amorim has lamented that footballers today do not watch as many matches as players of previous generations did.

The Manchester United manager said there are too many distractions as he noted that some of his team prefer not to turn on the television to see other teams in action.

He highlighted his captain Bruno Fernandes as an exception in his devotion to the game.

“Football players nowadays don't watch many games, unfortunately,” said Amorim. “Everything now is different. With a lot of distractions. I think they don't watch a lot of games.

“Bruno watches every game that is on TV. But then you have some guys that play really well. They want to do something different. That's okay.”

Amorim has confirmed that Fernandes remains United’s penalty taker despite failing from 12 yards twice already this season, blazing over the bar at Fulham and seeing his spot kick saved by Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

United bought Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, two players with excellent records as penalty takers, in the summer but Fernandes has been working hard on the training ground to ensure he does not miss again.

“Yes, he's the main taker,” Amorim confirmed. “He scores a lot of goals. We have other options. If we need, we can change. But I'm full confident that Bruno will sort that out.

“I think he has 70 penalties. He misses like nine, two with me, so I'm really annoyed with that. But he's really confident. He's training the penalties. He's trying to understand that people are watching the way he scores the penalties.”