EAGLE-EYED Manchester United fans spotted an astonishing tactical move from Ruben Amorim involving Bruno Fernandes in the final minutes of their FA Cup third round tie with Arsenal.
United went into extra time at the Emirates with 10 men after Diogo Dalot's red card in the 61st minute and desperately held on to ensure the match went to penalties.
But deep into stoppage time and after almost an hour of football with a player down, Amorim gave the green light for a desperate tactical switch.
Fernandes, who had scored the Red Devils opener, ran to his manager to discuss something.
As Fernandes then ran back to the center of the pitch, Amorim could be seen waving his finger in both directions before the subject of the chat became clear.
Fernandes, 30, filled the left centre-back role for the final minutes of the match, with Lisandro Martinez bizarrely moving forward as part of a pack shift.
The Argentine defender reportedly started to cramp due to the astonishing workload.
But the change saw Martinez move forward and seemingly stay close to Gunners star Martin Odegaard to lighten his load for the final few minutes before the shootout.
The bold move paid off when the 26-year-old scored, while Fernandes himself also scored the first of United's five successful penalties in the shootout.
One fan commented on the change on social media: “Ruben Amorim is a tactical mastermind! He reorganizes the team deep into extra time! Martinez up front.”
A second said: “Martinez playing up front for the last five minutes was the funniest thing ever.”
A third added: “Martinez playing higher due to injury.”
Another said: “[Fernandes] I talked to Amorim and then ran back and shook up the team and let Martinez go to the top where he doesn't have to run much.
“This happened around the last few minutes of the game, after he had broken his heart for 120 minutes and scored that great goal. I love him.”
Fernandes previously played as a stopgap defender for the Red Devils, including during United's 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final victory over Liverpool last season.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the win over Arsenal, he said: “It's very easy when you don't get results, when you don't perform, to lose faith in everything you've done.
“The good thing about the team is that we have continued to believe in what we do, how we train 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 about what you should do differently.
“Obviously the manager has his own idea, and he really believes in this, so there's no way he won't let you believe it.
“Everything he says to you, everything he tries to get past you, he does it in a way that we really believe in what we're doing.
“Even in games where you concede a goal or have a setback, he just wants us to understand that the things we do will get results if we do them the right way. That's the most important thing.”
United, the league holders, played Leicester at home for the fourth round with Ruud van Nistelrooy returning to Old Trafford.
The Red Devils icon was in charge of the team for a short interim period before Amorim took over after the dismissal of Erik ten Hag.
But first United have a Premier League match against Southampton to compete in and try to improve their 13th place.
Comments