Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United “have to do things that are not popular” to grind out results but vowed their style would be different in the future after drawing 1-1 with Arsenal.
United defended deeply at Old Trafford on Sunday, having just one shot on target in the first half which delivered their opener through Bruno Fernandes’ controversial free-kick.
Amorim’s side improved in the second half, forcing saves from David Raya, although couldn’t hold on to victory playing a different style to the one the head coach would like to implement.
Highlights from the Premier League clash between Manchester United and Arsenal
“When you coach Manchester United, you cannot play too much like that but the idea is to win the game and not to show something just to the fans,” he told Sky Sports.
“I know that it’s frustrating for the fans sometimes but then when you score and you feel comfortable and then you have a lot of opportunities, the game changes, the momentum changes and they are happy. So we have to deal with that.
“Sometimes we have to do things that are not popular but if you want to win and imagine one way to win, we have to do it because in the end, we need the points.
Jamie Redknapp discusses Ruben Amorim’s acknowledgment of Manchester United not being good enough and why they should not look to replace him
“We don’t want to play like this, defending so much and giving the ball to the opponent. But with all the games, with all the problems and then the characteristics of the players, try to adapt and imagine the game that we could win and we proved that today.
“In the low block, we can control more the game and then we have some good players for transition. I think (Alejandro) Garnacho made a really complete game. He was upset last Thursday and today, he was amazing.”
Mikel Arteta, Ruben Amorim, Christian Eriksen and Declan Rice give their thoughts on the controversial Bruno Fernandes free-kick which gave Manchester United the lead over Arsenal at Old Trafford.
‘Man Utd will never die’
Thousands of Manchester United fans protested against the club’s ownership ahead of the match which was attended by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and director Edward Glazer.
The 1958 fan group organised the protest and many fans heeded their request to wear black to symbolise how the club is “slowly dying” under the current structure.
The Glazer family were subject to the majority of many angry chants before and during the game, and Amorim defended the right of fans to protest.
“This club will never die, that is clear. You feel it in the streets, not just in the stadium,” he said.
“But you know that this is a big business and maybe all the fans around this league felt that sometimes it’s harder to go to the games to pay for the tickets and that is normal.
“But it’s a difficult situation. We just want to give them a lot of effort. Sometimes in the low block, I know it’s frustrating, but in the future we are not going to play like that but in the moment we try to win games.”
Manchester United supporters protested against the club’s ownership ahead of their Premier League fixture against Arsenal, with former club captain Gary Neville unerstanding the fans frustrations.
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville added that supporters were “really angry”.
“It’s down to a number of things,” said Neville. “It’s down to debt repayment, it’s down to mismanagement, if you’re getting rid of 450 people it means someone has been mismanaging the club for 10 years.
“You think of the impact of the performance on the club’s revenue, no Champions League football, losing £30-40m a year because of that. Woeful recruitment that means you have to recycle players constantly and not create assets within the club.
“All of that is coming home to roost here today. You can’t kid football fans or con football fans.”
