It would have been very easy for Ruben Amorim to stroll into the Anfield press room on Sunday evening and take his plaudits. On the back of a couple of training sessions, he had delivered a team that looked like his own and had gone toe-to-toe with the league leaders.

But even though we're only 56 days into the Amorim era at Old Trafford, it surprised nobody who covers the club regularly that he went for a different tactic. He didn't take his bouquets. He said he was "mad" and "upset".

If the head coach had strolled into that room, praised the performance levels, and delivered a few empty platitudes, it would have gone against everything he has been trying to do in the last few weeks. Amorim has quickly diagnosed some of the many failings he has inherited at Old Trafford, one of which is a sharp decline in standards.

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So delivering a bravura performance at Anfield when the world is watching isn't worthy of praise, only questions. Such as why can't you do this every week? Amorim has been honest about the shock therapy he is trying to deliver, and now has everyone's attention.

That is why he has been highlighting the threat of relegation, complaining about a lack of leaders, and publicly stating that his players are nervous, anxious, and afraid. After the game at Anfield, he said it was all part of a plan to shake Manchester United out of hibernation.

"I'm trying that [motivation] every day," Amorim told reporters. "I'm trying to push this team every day, sometimes it's maybe not the best way, I am always challenging these players in everything I do because I feel we are, not just the players, but everybody at Manchester United is too comfortable.

"So I think sometimes we need a shock, and you can see today we were a different team. It was not about the system, it was about the way we faced the competition. I think it's a very good sign. It's really clear, we lost three games in a row at home, some of the games we suffer two goals without doing nothing.

"I am upset today, really upset. I am pleased for the performance but everyone today is going to say to that team that they did a good job. Today I am allowed to be the only guy upset with the team, but today we were a team."

The phrase 'everybody at Manchester United is too comfortable' is particularly interesting. He had already said how he is trying to push the players every day and he has given the impression that he doesn't believe they are reaching their potential, but the line about everyone being 'too comfortable' was intended for a wider audience.

This has long been the accusation at United. That a club accustomed to success has become too casual about it, that there is a feeling the squad investment will eventually pay off, that things will eventually click, without really working through the process to reach that level of success.

Amorim is determined to change that and he has been a breath of fresh air so far. His press conferences have made for fascinating listening, and he isn't about to change his tack after one good performance. If anything, the mentality on show at Liverpool only proved to him that he was right.

Only when his players consistently deliver this will he begin to relax. Amorim knows that a comfortable environment, while maybe easier to work in, isn't conducive to success in elite-level sport.

If anything proves that mantra recently, it is Manchester United. This is a club who have managed to invest well over £1bn into a squad that has consistently underperformed. For some players, signing for United and collecting that pay rise has been the end goal, not the success that should follow.

That will no longer be acceptable under Amorim's watch. His Anfield press conference was a case in point. He intends to keep making people at United uncomfortable until they meet his standards and deliver the improvement he expects.