Ruben Amorim is adamant that Sunday’s free-kick fiasco was fair because both teams had a crack while the wall was lined up further back than usual. Bruno Fernandes converted his opportunity in the first half, when Arsenal‘s players were marched 11.2 yards back from the ball by referee Anthony Taylor rather than the customary 10 yards.
Sky Sports co-commentator and United legend Gary Neville spotted the abnormally large gap moments before Fernandes stepped up, and the Portuguese got it over the wall and back down again with ease to put the hosts ahead.
United players seemingly caught onto Taylor’s long steps, as when Martin Odegaard lined up to take a dangerous free-kick in the second period, they argued their case and tried to inch forward before the Arsenal captain fired into the wall.
“From my side, it was clear about both free-kicks,” Amorim told Sky Sports after the game. “When it is yours, you don’t say anything. When it is the opponent’s you try to push, because it is a big difference. It was fair – one for us, one for them. We had Bruno and he solved the problem.”
Although Arsenal were unable to convert their free-kick opportunity, they still came away from Old Trafford with a point thanks to a 74th-minute strike from Declan Rice.
United sat back and soaked up pressure for the majority of the game, seeing only 31% of the ball. And Amorim has stated that deploying that style of play is just a necessary evil while players get to grips with the more aggressive, expansive approach he really wants to use.
“We don’t want to play like this,” he continued. “Defending so much and giving the ball to the opponent. But with all the problems and the characteristics of the players… I tried to imagine a game that we could win, and we proved that today.
“When you coach United, you can’t play too much like that. [I had to] imagine one way to win the game in this context. I know it’s frustrating for the fans sometimes. But they are happy.
“Sometimes we have to do things that are not popular, but you have to do it because we need the points. We just wanted to give them a lot of effort. In the future we are not going to play like that, but we want to win games.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk