Manchester United manager, Ruben Amorim, has praised his players despite the defeat to Arsenal in their English Premier League (EPL) clash on Sunday evening.
Amorim stated that today’s performance showed signs of progress from his team.
Naija News reports that Arsenal began their Premier League title charge on a winning note with a narrow 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
A howler from United’s stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir handed Arsenal left-back Riccardo Calafiori the decisive goal, leaving the Red Devils’ much-vaunted ₤200m forward line toothless.
Despite encouraging debuts from Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, and a late cameo from Benjamin Sesko, United failed to find a way past Arsenal’s rock-solid defence marshalled by Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.
Arsenal, who finished runners-up for three consecutive seasons, are under pressure to finally deliver the Premier League title under Mikel Arteta.
For United, the defeat only reinforced doubts about their ability to improve on last season’s disastrous campaign when they scored just 44 goals in 38 league matches and finished 15th – their worst in 51 years.
United’s promising start was undone when Bayindir, deputising for injured Andre Onana, failed to deal with a simple ball, allowing Calafiori to pounce for the game’s only goal.
That moment proved decisive, as Arsenal held firm to frustrate the 75,000 fans inside Old Trafford.
I Am Really Proud Of The Guys – Amorim
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Amorim praised his players saying, “I’m really proud of the guys. They were really brave in everything they did during the game. Congratulations for the performance. We deserved a different result and we need to move forward to the next one.”
He added, “We were more aggressive than last year. We went one against one all the game and we pressed high. Even when the stadium made some sounds, we continued to play the way we play. We lost and have things to work on but this was completely different to last season.”
On Bayindir’s error, Amorim said: “Sometimes it happened last year… we need to be stronger. Today I think we were the better team. We have players to win any game of the Premier League. We need to focus and forget about the noise.”
Naija News reports that today’s match result keeps Arsenal’s title dream alive early in the campaign, while United will be hoping their expensively rebuilt attack can quickly deliver results to avoid another season of frustration.
The post ‘I Am Proud Of Them’ – Amorim Reacts After Man United’s 1-0 Defeat To Arsenal appeared first on Naija News.