MANCHESTER, England — Among the songs at the end of Manchester United‘s UEFA Europa League match with Rangers, the home fans started to sing Ruben Amorim’s name.
The Portuguese head coach says he doesn’t like it because he doesn’t yet think he deserves the honour. But on this occasion, he will have been quite glad to hear the tune of “Ruben Amorim’s Red and White Army.”
With his United team minutes away from another damaging result having inexplicably allowed Rangers to score a late equaliser completely against the run of play, Bruno Fernandes popped up with a stoppage-time winner as the match ended 2-1.
It caused Amorim to turn to his bench and clench his fists in celebration. It was a goal he badly needed. Amorim has said this season is going to be a rollercoaster and against Rangers, he crammed all the ups and downs into one game.
“We didn’t deserve that draw at the moment and it was fair for us to win the game, a game we knew would be tough,” said Amorim.
“In this moment, we started well, the pace of the game helped us because it’s different and you could feel it. We tried to do things, we were better with the ball, sometimes we controlled well in the beginning and then we lost control for seven minutes because of some bad passes, some transitions but then I think we created the best chance to win the game and we deserved to win.”
This has been an ugly week for United, even by their standards.
A fourth home defeat in five games against Brighton & Hove Albion last Sunday prompted Amorim to speculate afterwards whether this is the worst team in the club’s history. He backtracked slightly in a news conference on Wednesday, but only clarifying that he had maybe chosen his words poorly. If anything, he doubled down on the sentiment that this is a significant low point.
There can be little doubt that Amorim is having to deal with extensive problems in his new job. But at least for a few days, he might be able to enjoy a little bit of respite from the doom and gloom. What lies in wait at Fulham on Sunday is anyone’s guess.
Victory over Rangers leaves United fourth in the Europa League table with one foot in the round of 16, but there can be no talk about corners being turned. United were fortunate.
This was a makeshift Rangers team forced into another defensive reshuffle at half-time which saw left-back Rıdvan Yılmaz moved to right-back and right-back James Tavernier forced to centre-back. United only took the lead in the second half when their former loan goalkeeper Jack Butland punched Christian Eriksen‘s corner into his own net.
“Jack saved us a few times also in the second half,” said Rangers boss Philippe Clement.
“That is the life of a goalkeeper. I am not going to be focused solely on that.”
After Butland’s blunder, United had chance after chance to put the game to bed. They almost paid the price when substitute Cyriel Dessers took advantage of Harry Maguire‘s mistake to smash in an equaliser with two minutes to go.
It would have been enough to condemn Amorim’s team to another embarrassing night, only for Fernandes to latch on to Lisandro Martínez‘s perfect cross in the second minute of injury time.
“We are not playing our best but we regrouped from the last game,” said Amorim.
“I know the opponent is different. It wasn’t as fast. You can see the connections. I think we need to be more clinical in the right moments because that can help us a lot.”
For a change, Amorim walked down the tunnel after the final whistle wearing a smile, but it was another night when the size of his task was made brutally clear.
It’s now 13 games in a row without a clean sheet, which is a major problem when the team isn’t scoring goals. Alejandro Garnacho, Amad Diallo, Manuel Ugarte and Maguire all had good chances. United had 16 shots in total with only an own goal and Fernandes’ late strike to show for it.
Garnacho looked like the most dangerous attacking threat, but there is no guarantee he will be at the club next month. The 20-year-old Argentina international is the subject of interest from Napoli and Chelsea and United may have to seriously consider a good offer because of their precarious financial position.
Amorim wants to keep him and the club, ideally, do not want to have to auction off their best young players. This, though, is the situation they find themselves in.
“He’s a player for Manchester United,” said Amorim when asked about the winger’s future.
“He was really important for us today and let’s see in the next days.”
Amorim can only hope that Garnacho is still part of his squad this time next week. For now, he can enjoy the relative serenity that comes in the aftermath of a win.
The storm hasn’t passed, but the clouds have parted ever so slightly.
