Ruben Amorim said he had discovered that his players are struggling for consistency and that he is unable to help them after a chastening week at Old Trafford killed any sense of momentum in his reign.

There was a positive feeling around United a week ago following a week in which they had drawn with Liverpool at Anfield and then knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup on penalties at the Emirates.

But Amorim was always wary about a week that looked more mundane, with home fixtures against Southampton and Brighton, and his concerns played out across the two games.

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United turned in a poor display against the Saints, who are on course to end the campaign as the worst Premier League team in history, and needed an Amad hat-trick in the final 12 minutes of the game to come from behind to win 3-1. They weren't so fortunate against Brighton, losing 3-1 in a game in which their only shot on target had been a Bruno Fernandes penalty.

Amorim said on Wednesday, before his side faced Southampton, that he felt he would learn more about them from that kind of game than he would the positive performances at Liverpool and Arsenal.

Asked for his assessment of his learnings after these two games, Amorim alighted on his own shortcomings as well as the problems his players are having, with United now languishing in 13th in the league, with just two wins from their last nine in the league.

"The opponents are better than us in many details," he said. "That we cannot be consistent, that I’m not helping my players in the moment.

"It’s a hard moment, you have to acknowledge that we are in a very difficult situation, without all the bad records, as losing games at home, losing games in the Premier League, we are really underperforming and we need to win games, that’s all."