‘When they put the effort in, I always love them’
Scott Parker unhappy with VAR decision for penalty
Ruben Amorim has said he loves his Manchester United squad after their hard-fought victory over Burnley thanks to a late Bruno Fernandes penalty. The head coach had admitted on Friday he “sometimes hates” his players but their hard work on Saturday was rewarded with affection, having recovered from Wednesday’s Carabao Cup embarrassment at Grimsby.
United should have won more easily, instead being reliant on a controversial intervention from the video assistant referee in second-half injury time when the referee, Sam Barrott, wandered over to the pitchside monitor and decided Jaidon Anthony pulling back Amad Diallo’s shirt, which started outside the area, was worthy of a penalty. United had led twice through a Josh Cullen own goal and Bryan Mbeumo’s first Old Trafford strike but Lyle Foster and Anthony equalised as Burnley looked set for a point until Fernandes intervened.
“When they put the effort in, I always love them,” Amorim said. “Even when Amad is missing that kind of goal, I love Amad if he’s giving everything. And I think we need to understand that we should always be on this level of effort. Because even in the game, we played well in the beginning. I think we struggled when we changed the characteristics of the players because the match is not so perfect and you can feel that the team struggled a little bit, especially in the second half. But the effort was always there. It ended well, I think we deserved to win the game, I think we created a lot of chances, we should go to the half-time with a bigger advantage.”
