Something extraordinary happened at Old Trafford on Sunday, almost without precedent during Ruben Amorim’s four months as the Manchester United manager. His team enjoyed a half-time lead. The only time they had done so previously was in his third game in early December at home against Everton. Back then, they went in 2-0 up en route to a 4-0 win. Now, in match No 26, they were 1-0 ahead against Arsenal.
Drill a little deeper and there is more remarkable detail. United have scored before the interval in only seven of Amorim’s games – a total of 10 goals. They have held the lead on five occasions in first halves, squandering three of them.
The sight of United sloping off at the break, sometimes behind (which has been the case in nine matches), having barely contributed for 45 minutes, has become increasingly commonplace. When Bruno Fernandes curled home his 45th-minute free-kick against Arsenal, it was just the third game in 21 that United had scored in the first half. Little wonder there was such a release about the celebrations.
A part of it was because United had been a tough watch, the ambition in attacking terms wholly absent. There was a moment midway through the period when the goalkeeper, André Onana, with the ball in his hands, wanted to get United high up the pitch quickly. Only Alejandro Garnacho was in a forward position and only Joshua Zirkzee made a move to join him, breaking up the right. Onana fluffed the drop-kick, which was of a piece with his erratic distribution, but it was easier for the Old Trafford crowd to worry about the structure of their team. It was not the only time there were precious few runners and options ahead of the ball.
United sat deep in a 5-4-1 formation, their efforts to play out from the back too predictable, players receiving the ball in uncomfortable situations, usually towards the flanks, the passing lanes blocked off. It felt as though the hosts wanted to tick the minutes off to half-time. Yes, they defended stoutly, but they were fortunate that Arsenal missed the final action.
And yet a funny thing happened after the Fernandes goal, the excellent Garnacho winning the free-kick after a solo burst; United felt an injection of confidence at the start of the second half. It was a little counterintuitive that they ended up drawing 1-1 because they were positive in that period, carrying the fight to a top team, stretching them, creating chances. David Raya had to make fine saves to deny Noussair Mazraoui, Zirkzee and, at the very end, Fernandes, while Rasmus Højlund, on as a substitute, might have done better with two openings if he had been able to execute more swiftly.
Amorim talked of his team having more energy after the half-time scoreline, more belief that they could score again. “When you are in this moment you don’t feel so tired,” he said. Which begged the question: why can’t United start matches in this way? What Amorim seemed to suggest was that to have such a mindset for a full game was to ask too much, at least right now.
“When you start the game you know you have 90 minutes, 75 minutes … what you have to defend, not to suffer [concede] a goal and try to score,” he said. “So I think it’s more a plan. If you can be inside of the game [level] or on top of the game at half-time, in the second half we will be more dangerous and the players feel more confident to play a different football.”
Amorim’s honesty is glorious. He does not so much pull back the curtain on his thoughts as burn it down. Did he feel there was a confidence issue with his players? “It depends,” he replied. “We believe more during the games because we feel comfortable, we feel we can do this, we are OK. And then we are growing in confidence during the game. Not so much in the beginning [of games]. In the beginning we try to understand but then during the games … [we grow].”
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Amorim said he felt this way during the Europa League last-16 first leg at Real Sociedad last Thursday. The first half was scoreless, a virtual non-event. As so often, United just looked to let it drift by. As Amorim says, it is a plan, perhaps in Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope territory. They were then better after the restart, scoring through Zirkzee to take control. It was a pity for them that Fernandes would be penalised for handball, Mikel Oyarzabal equalising from the penalty spot, but the 1-1 final score felt fine.
It sets up the second leg at Old Trafford on Thursday when United’s season will be on the line. Amorim does not want to play so passively, with a low block, routinely missing the first half. He knows it is unacceptable at United. Fernandes, though, brought a kind of liberation with his goal against Arsenal. Can it light the path ahead?
