Ruben Amorim will be feeling a whirlwind of emotions after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw against Arsenal.
On one hand, Amorim will be delighted that his United side put in a largely impressive display against the second best team in the Premier League.
But Ruben Amorim might also be disappointed as his Manchester United side were perhaps the better of the two teams against Arsenal and on the balance on play, they should have won the game. Amorim claimed Arsenal helped Manchester United by sending several bodies further forward and giving his side to hurt them in transition — which they did time and again.
Bruno Fernandes could have scored a late winner if not for the Manchester United midfielder’s close-range strike being miraculously cleared off the line by David Raya. Similarly, Noussair Mazraoui’s effort was also brilliantly saved by Raya.
But the Spanish goalkeeper’s heroics meant the visitors managed to walk away with a point.
Furthermore, at half-time, Ruben Amorim would have had hope as his United side were leading 1-0 through Fernandes’ well-taken free-kick against Arsenal.
Gary Neville says Ruben Amorim would’ve told Man United “Arsenal couldn’t hurt them”
But Amorim would have been frustrated as Declan Rice’s brilliant strike brought Arsenal back into the game against Manchester United United.
Much like against Manchester City earlier this season, perhaps the former Sporting CP boss may have suspected that the Red Devils could take home the all-important three points after the half-time whistle was blown.
So much so that Gary Neville claimed that Ruben Amorim must have been telling his Manchester United players at half-time that Arsenal were barely creating any big chances.
The pundit said on Sky Sports’ The Gary Neville Podcast: “I said just after half-time, I think Ruben Amorim goes in and half-time and goes, ‘Look lads, what are you worried about? Just play.’ You know, the goal gives him something to obviously be able to encourage them on, they feel like they got something to play to and hang on to and also that Arsenal couldn’t hurt them.”
“That’s the one thing I think Ruben Amorim would’ve been saying at half-time. ‘Look, you’ve sat back there and Arsenal have thrown everything at you in terms of possession but they’ve not been able to break you down.’ That next step is, just show a little bit of confidence in your attack.”
After the contest, Gary Neville stated Arsenal looked “toothless” against Manchester United as well and as a result, both Ruben Amorim and Mikel Arteta will be gutted for varying reasons.
What Mikel Arteta said about Arsenal’s attack vs Manchester United
Arteta would have expected his side to create chances for fun after beating PSV Eindhoven 7-1 heading into the fixture.
But that was simply not the case as United were comfortable defending against the North Londoners for much of the game.
Mikel Arteta was aware of that, admitting that Arsenal were not “good enough” in the final third against Manchester United.
Arteta said via HaytersTV: “Today. the efficiency we had in the last 20 metres, it wasn’t good enough. We know that because for big parts of a lot of things that the game demands when you come to Old Trafford and what we did, superb but at the end, you have to capitalise on that when the team is so dominant and much better and the possession and today, we didn’t.”
“And then, you have to overturn a result, which we know, how difficult it is to do that here and you have to expose yourself a little bit more and then the game, as I said could have gone the other way in the last few minutes.”
For Ruben Amorim, as Gary Neville pinpointed, winning games against sides like Arsenal when they are not firing on all cylinders and being clinical is the next step he would like his Manchester United team to take now.
