Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has responded to growing criticism, explaining that his side needs to adapt to the modern game.
The match was widely condemned for its lack of entertainment. Amorim, who took the reins at Old Trafford earlier this season, defended his side.
He acknowledged the criticism but emphasised that football has evolved significantly since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson.
He admitted that this shift has sometimes led to more “robotic” performances on the pitch, as teams focus on rigid systems and analytics-driven decisions.
“The game is completely different and you have to be so good in your base and then that individual aspect and the freedom and the fluidity of the game is going to appear,” Amorim told Sky Sports. “But, for that, I think we need time.
“There was an evolution, you can like it or not, but there was an evolution because you have all the games from the opponent’s detail, from your departments, so you can understand better the movements that they make.
“In that evolution, you have to be better tactically. Sometimes I talk to [Darren] Fletcher, about how he prepared the games with Sir Alex Ferguson, it’s completely different.
“There was more a feeling, that aspect of the individual talent. I think today is not enough and you can see some of the best teams, especially if you remember the years of Galacticos, they had maybe the best players in the world, but you need to have a connection.”
He added: “Sometimes we lack that creativity in the last third, sometimes the quality. And when I talk about the quality, it’s not just the individual quality, it’s the understanding of the game in the final third.
“So I want to see both because I want to entertain people, but I also like to see my team defending like they defend in this game.”
