Rúben Amorim’s message to Manchester United’s board completely backfired after what Bruno Fernandes admitted following the FA Cup loss against Fulham.
Manchester United were knocked out of the FA Cup after a penalty-shootout defeat to Fulham following a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. United started well but struggled to create clear chances, and Fulham made them pay just before half-time when Calvin Bassey smashed home from a corner after poor defending.
Rúben Amorim made changes at the break, bringing on Alejandro Garnacho and Victor Lindelöf, but Fulham continued to control the game. With 30 minutes left, Chido Obi and Casemiro were introduced, and moments later, Bruno Fernandes drilled a low shot into the bottom corner to level the score.
United had chances to win it in extra time, with Obi and Garnacho going close, but Fulham held firm to take the match to penalties. Both teams converted their first three spot-kicks before Bernd Leno saved Lindelöf’s effort.
Joshua Zirkzee then saw his penalty stopped, sealing United’s exit and sending Fulham through to the quarter-finals.
Amorim’s message to United’s board
When the line-ups were announced, many were surprised to see that the club had included just seven players on the bench when the club would otherwise been able to name nine players.
This became a point of discussion between BBC’s pundits, with former striker Gary Lineker asking Wayne Rooney, Danny Murphy, and Micah Richards if the decision only to select seven players was “making a point” to United’s board, to which they all agreed.
United legend Rooney went on to stay that normally what a manager would want in this moment is to want or need more or better players, to which Murphy argued that the club shouldn’t have sent so many on loan.
First-team attackers Marcus Rashford, Antony, and Ethan Wheatley all departed for the remainder of the season last month, while United did not bring in any fresh legs to compensate.
However, Lineker then jumped to the defence of Amorim by suggesting that this is the point the head coach was trying to make, that the club shouldn’t have sanctioned these transfers without getting in replacements.
Fernandes comments shows the message backfired
However, following the full time whistle, it became clear that Amorim’s message to United’s board had backfired, with an honest admission from Fernandes showing that the lack of legs and other options United had on the night is what ultimately killed them against Fulham.
Despite no other first-team players being available, it’s hard not to think that the decision was a bizarre one as he could have instead included a further few Academy attackers on the bench, such as Gabriele Biancheri or Bentido Mantato, as spare options to throw on at the death if needed.
“We were out of legs, most of our players were out of legs, and we couldn’t keep the ball enough,” Fernandes explained after the game. “But we still had some very good transitions, and from those transitions, we had very good chances that we could have scored, but we didn’t.”
Continued, he explained that the lack of other options from the bench is causing other players to become tired during a 120-minute game amid all the other fixtures they are having to play.
“It’s just tiredness from the game, and from the moment, obviously, we don’t have many players to play. We’ve been playing most of the games with the same players all the time, and then it’s 120 minutes, you know, like, it’s been tough.
“Today, you had to give an opportunity again to Chido, to Ayden [Heaven]. They did very well again for us, coming out from the bench.
“Obviously, you’ve seen H [Harry Maguire] came off, he was very, very tired. Vic [Lindelöf] doesn’t play for a long time. Mata [Matthijs de Ligt], he was running out of legs at the end.
“Josh [Zirkzee] also, because he wasn’t always starting and always playing 90 minutes, and now he’s been doing that for three, four games in a row, and obviously, you run out of legs.”
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