EAGLE-EYED Manchester United fans spotted an amazing tactical switch made by Ruben Amorim involving Bruno Fernandes in the dying minutes of their FA Cup third round clash with Arsenal.
United went into extra-time with ten man at the Emirates following Diogo Dalot‘s red card in the 61st minute and were desperately holding on to ensure the game went to penalties.
Ruben Amorim tactical mastermind! He reorganises the team deep into extra time! Martinez up front 🤣#mufc #facup #rubenamorim pic.twitter.com/awKRZeKZlz
— StrettyEnd (@_StrettyEnd) January 13, 2025
RexEagle-eyed Manchester United fans have spotted an amazing tactical switch Ruben Amorim made involving Bruno Fernandes[/caption]
GettyIn the final moments of extra-time Fernandes moved to playing as a centre-back[/caption]
GettyLisandro Martinez moved up front after reportedly beginning to cramp up during the second half of extra-time[/caption]
@_StrettyEnd/TwitterFernandes was seen in conversation with Amorim about the change[/caption]
@_StrettyEnd/TwitterFernandes then directed his team-mates to change positions[/caption]
However, deep into injury time and having played almost an hour of football a player down, Amorim gave the green light for a desperate tactical switch.
Fernandes, who had scored the Red Devils opener, was seen running over to his manager to discuss something.
As Fernandes then ran back into the middle of the pitch, Amorim could then be seen waving his finger in both directions before the subject of the chat became clear.
Fernandes, 30, was seen filling in at left centre-back role for the final minutes of the game, with Lisandro Martinez bizarrely moving up front as part of a shuffling of the pack.
The Argentine defender was reportedly beginning to cramp up due to the astonishing workload.
But the change saw Martinez move up front and seemingly stick close to Gunners star Martin Odegaard to lessen his burden for the final few minutes before the shootout.
The bold move paid dividends as the 26-year-old went on to score, while Fernandes himself also scored the first of United’s five successful spot-kicks in the shootout.
Reacting to the change on social media, one fan said: “Ruben Amorim tactical mastermind! He reorganises the team deep into extra time! Martinez up front.”
A second said: “Martinez playing up front for the last five mins was the funniest thing ever.”
A third added: “Martinez playing higher up due to injury.”
Another said: “[Fernandes] Spoke with Amorim then ran back and shuffled the team and made Martinez go up top where he doesn’t have to run a lot.
“This happened around last few mins of the game, after running his heart out for 120 minutes and scoring that amazing goal. I love him.”
Fernandes has played as an emergency defender for the Red Devils before, famously doing so during United’s 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final win over Liverpool last season.
Speaking to Sky Sports following the win over Arsenal, he said: “It’s really easy when you don’t get results, when you don’t get performances to start losing belief in everything you’ve been doing.
“That’s a good thing about the team is that we kept belief on what we are doing, how we are training and where we want to go as a team and what we want to improve as a team.
“Every time you lose, or something goes wrong everyone has an opinion on what you should do differently.
“Obviously, the manager has his own idea, and he really believes in this, so there is no way that he makes you not believe it.
“Everything he says to you, everything he tries to pass you, he does it in a way that we really believe in what we are doing.
“Even in games where you concede a goal or have a setback, he just wants us to understand that the things we are doing will result if we do them in the right way. That’s the most important thing.”
United, who are the holders of the competition, were pitted at home against Leicester for the fourth round that will see Ruud van Nistelrooy return to Old Trafford.
The Red Devils icon had a brief interim spell in charge of the team before Amorim took over following the sacking of Erik ten Hag.
But first United have a Premier League clash against Southampton to contest with and to try and improve their 13th place standing.
Man Utd ratings vs Arsenal as Maguire and Co dig deep to win after Dalot’s moment of madness
MANCHESTER UNITED produced a heroic effort to squeeze past Arsenal and into the FA Cup’s fourth round on penalties.
The Red Devils were forced to dig deep at the Emirates following Diogo Dalot’s 61st minute red card.
On a freezing cold afternoon in North London, SunSport’s Kealan Hughes rates and slates each United performer…
ALTAY BAYINDIR – 8
Poor punch up in the air which allowed the ball to fall nicely for Gabriel to finish.
Redeemed himself with a brilliant penalty save to keep the score level, before superbly denying Declan Rice twice.
NOUSSAIR MAZRAOUI – 7
Was assured on and off the ball if unspectacular. Got his body on the line as the Gunners pushed for a winner.
MATTHIJS DE LIGT – 8
Solid in defence and kept the backline well organised. Produced the best tackle of the match on the goalline to deny Leandro Trossard a certain goal.
HARRY MAGUIRE – 8
Commanding in the air and made several key blocks but gave away the penalty which Arsenal missed to go in front.
Got away with an earlier error as he failed to clear – the ball landed at Kai Havertz’s feet but he somehow skewed wide with his effort.
LISANDRO MARTINEZ – 7
Had to be on high alert to deal with the movement of Arsenal forwards but it was a task he managed well.
DIOGO DALOT – 3
Booked for a mistimed lunge on Lewis-Skelly. He followed that up with another silly, late foul on Merino with the ball about to go out of play for his second yellow. Stupid red card.
MANUEL UGARTE – 7
A firefighter all across the pitch for his side, although spent most of the match in his own half given Arsenal’s dominance.
Was booked for one foul too many just before the hour mark and was lucky to escape a red card as he went head-to-head with Havertz after the penalty incident.
KOBBIE MAINOO – 6
Lively in the middle and kept a close eye on Jorginho. Looked sharp on the ball and showed some clever touches.
Should have done better to head clear before Gabriel’s equaliser.
ALEJANDRO GARNACHO – 7
Always an outlet on the counter which was much needed for the Red Devils.
Made the most of a Gabriel error to burst in on goal and pass across to Fernandes to score.
BRUNO FERNANDES – 7
Was booked for throwing a trademark tantrum after claiming he was fouled on the edge of the box when lining up a shot.
Showed his class with a brilliant first-time finish which he bent around a defender into the far corner.
RASMUS HOJLUND – 3
Failed to provide the focal point that United badly needed, which meant almost every pass forward was dealt with by the Arsenal centre-halves. Was fortunate there was no VAR to take a look at his apparent elbow on William Saliba, which left the Arsenal star bloodied.
SUBSTITUTES
Amad (for Garnacho, 80mins) – 6
Lively on the counter too but just lacking a bit of quality – though was outnumbered every time he got the ball.
Joshua Zirkzee (for Hojlund, 80mins) – 6
Some very clever touches when he came on and provided a presence up front at a time United badly needed it.
Toby Collyer (for Mainoo, 80mins) – 5
Showed plenty of energy but was missing quality in some areas.
Tyrell Malacia (for Ugarte, extra-time) – 6
Stuck to his task well.
Leno Yoro (for Maguire, 104) – 6
Did his job well during the closing stages of the match. Converted his penalty in the shoot-out with aplomb.
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