'We had a different energy' - Ruben Amorim makes brutal admission after Man Utd's shock draw at home to winless Wolves

Wolves had lost 16 of their previous 18 Premier League games this season, only managing to avoid defeat at home to Brighton and away to Tottenham. United had pulled off an impressive 1-0 win over Newcastle after Amorim had played a back four and used Patrick Dorgu to devastating effect as a wide right forward rather than in his usual position as a left-wing-back. But the coach went back on the system that had worked so well against Newcastle, reverting to his favoured 3-4-3 in order to match Wolves' back five. 

United were without captain Bruno Fernandes as he remains injured plus the absent trio of Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui due to their participation in the  Africa Cup of Nations. Mason Mount was also unavailable after picking up a knock against Newcastle while Kobbie Mainoo was also still out from an injury he had sustained in training. However, the coach refused to use the missing players as an excuse for failing to beat Wolves, admitting his side lacked invention and energy.

Amorim told Sky Sports: "We struggled for the whole game. We had a lack of creativity but we knew that it would be a different game compared to Newcastle. We had a different energy during the game also. If you look at the game, we had our chances, but the fluidity wasn't there because there is a lack of connections.

"The game was completely different from the last one. We had more men behind the ball and when you have more men the ball you have to work harder, have more imagination to play the game in a different way. We lacked that quality. We are not going to use that excuse [missing players]. But I understand why we lacked fluidity and one versus one."

Joshua Zirkzee gave United the lead with a deflected goal but was then taken off at half-time, replaced by the teenage Jack Fletcher. Amorim confirmed that it was a tactical decision and that the Dutch striker had no injury problems. Instead, he seemed to suggest that having Zirkzee on the pitch along with Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko was making United less of an attacking threat.

"We were running around trying to recover the ball," he explained. "They overload with a lot of midfielders and we were struggling with that and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers. We played with three strikers, Cunha, Josh and Sesko, and sometimes it is not the best thing to attack well.

"The players tried. We didn't play well and when you don't play well with the ball you struggle even without the ball. We need to recover and to go to the next one."

United visit rivals Leeds in their next game on Sunday but their home form is becoming hugely concerning as they have taken just six points from their last five matches at Old Trafford, losing 1-0 at home to 10-man Everton, drawing with Bournemouth, West Ham and Wolves while only beating Newcastle.

Lisandro Martinez was furious with his side's inability to beat Wolves and their other recent results at home. "I feel really disappointed. We can't come here at home and draw in this game," he said. "We have to win when we play at home and the opponents have to suffer. It is very frustrating."

United missed yet another chance to enter the Premier League's top four after Chelsea were held by Bournemouth but Amorim said the Red Devils just needed to move on from the results as soon as possible. He said: "The same thing when you play really well. You think this game is over. You cannot change the result of this one but you can move on and prepare for the next one."