Ruben Amorim hailed his young Manchester United side for embracing the magic of ‘Fergie Time’ after a come-from-behind win at Man City.
United were behind with 87 minutes gone but produced a sensational turnaround with Bruno Fernandes‘ penalty followed up by a winner from man-of-the-match Amad Diallo.
It means that Amorim has now beaten Pep Guardiola and Manchester City twice this season – once at Sporting before taking charge at Manchester United – and while he is keen to temper expectations, it was hard for him not to get carried away.
‘It was incredible,’ the United head coach told the BBC.
‘I think we deserved it. It was a very tough match but we believe until the end. We managed to score, we needed that win, it was important for us and for our fans.
‘We were in the game for 90 minutes and that is very good. We talk about the Arsenal game [which United lost 2-0]. We played well in the first half but they were not believing that we could win. Today was so much more different.
Ruben Amorim claimed Manchester United’s ‘Fergie Time’ winner at Man City was ‘deserved’
Amad Diallo won a penalty for the equaliser and then scored the winner for Manchester United
‘I also believe. Then we have Fergie time and we put the things together and something magic happened. It was a good day for us.’
It has been a miserable season to date for Manchester United, who temporarily rose to 12th before Tottenham kicked off at Southampton.
That is why Amorim was delighted to give back to the fans who have stood by him after a rocky start to life at Old Trafford.
‘They [the fans] need it. Just like us, but you can see the way they celebrate is special,’ he added.
‘But we need to continue. Our club needs to win these kinds of matches, I understand the happiness of our fans but we need to continue.
‘With a victory for City, the performance was the same. We need to improve a lot of things but today the guys deserved the win. They were in it until the last minute and that is important for us.’
Amorim made a number of bold calls with his selection, not least the call to fully omit both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from his squad.
While the United head coach was guarded on his exact reasons, he intimated that they must meet the necessary standards or risk being left out again in future.
‘It was nothing special. New week, new life,’ he said post match, attempting to diffuse the situation.
Amorim never lost belief in his players on a day where he made some huge selection calls
In the end he got the last laugh in what is his second win of the season against Pep Guardiola
‘If they train well, they will compete for a place in the team, if they are better than the other guys in all the situations, inside and outside the pitch.
‘They are really talented and we need Garna and Rash a lot. It was not a disciplinary thing. It’s just that we have to improve our standards. They will get used to this.’
United’s relentless schedule continues in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night as they play their quarter-final tie away to Tottenham, who produced a record-breaking first half in their rout of Southampton on Sunday night.
