Love my players again, says Amorim after Burnley victory as Scott Parker unhappy with VAR decision for penalty.
Ruben Amorim ‘loves’ his players again after their effort in Burnley win.
After Manchester United’s hard-fought victory over Burnley, which was secured by a late penalty from Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Amorim declared his love for his team. After recovering from Wednesday’s Carabao Cup humiliation at Grimsby, the head coach said on Friday that he “sometimes hates” his players, but on Saturday, their efforts were rewarded with love.
Instead of depending on a contentious second-half injury time intervention by the video assistant referee, Sam Barrott, who wandered over to the pitchside monitor and determined that Jaidon Anthony’s pulling back of Amad Diallo’s shirt, which began outside the area, was deserving of a penalty, United should have won more easily.
Josh Cullen’s own goal and Bryan Mbeumo’s first Old Trafford goal had given United the lead twice, but Lyle Foster and Anthony pulled even, and Burnley appeared to be headed for a point until Fernandes stepped in.
“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.”
Burnley were also left confused by Foster having a goal ruled out for offside before the late call from the referee and video officials. “The ref didn’t give it, the linesman didn’t give it, he’s 10 metres away,” Scott Parker, the Clarets’ manager, said. “The guy 100 miles away has decided that it’s a clear and obvious error from the ref, and then, obviously, it’s a penalty.
“That’s the way the game is, the game’s going that way. It’s going to become the most sterile game there is really. The linesmen and referees are slowly becoming redundant. We live in a world of perfection and when everyone wants perfection. Social media brings that, I think we want perfection in a game of football, which I just don’t agree with.”