Manchester United can beat anybody, says Ruben Amorim after promising signs in defeat

MANCHESTER – Manchester United lost to Arsenal in their opener on Aug 17, but Ruben Amorim remained full of optimism and said his rebuilt team can now beat anybody in the English Premier League as the club try to put last season’s woeful 15th-place finish behind them.

Riccardo Calafiori headed home from an early corner to give

Arsenal a 1-0 win

, with a weak challenge from goalkeeper Altay Bayindir one of United’s few mistakes on an afternoon that sent their fans home from Old Trafford feeling positive.

“We have players to win any game in the Premier League,” said Amorim, flashing a rare smile after the scowl he wore for most of last season.

“We were more aggressive than last year. We went one against one all the game and we pressed high. We had quality with the ball.”

Close-season signings Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo injected pace and creativity into United’s attack, with the ex-Wolves man, who had three shots on target, arguably the best player on the pitch.

“We did a lot things right,” Amorim said. “We were more aggressive and brave. In certain moments, I think Bryan and Cunha helped a lot.

“We stuck to the plan even when the stadium was nervous, we continued to play the way we played and that will help us in the future.

“(The fans) want that feeling again. We go to Old Trafford and we are not going to get bored. We need to win more than last season but they want to see something and feel something.”

United also looked more composed defensively than last term, but the error from their Turkish goalkeeper begged the question about that position in Amorim's team.

Arsenal’s William Saliba backed into Bayindir, who feebly batted the ball with one hand into the path of Italian Calafiori for an easy close-range header.

Amorim said United needed to match Arsenal’s physicality on the corner. “If you can watch the goal, I think (players) are allowed to do a lot of things in the corners. We need to do the same,” the Portuguese manager said.

“But when you touch that way the goalkeeper, he needs to use his hands to catch the ball, not to push players, or he chooses to push players and let the ball past.

“But again, (it) is the rules. If he’s allowed, we need to do the same thing.”

Bayindir was selected ahead of usual starter Andre Onana, who has had only three training sessions after recovering from injury. Onana made mistakes himself last season but Amorim shrugged off questions about any changes in that position.

Meanwhile, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta was delighted to return from Manchester with all three points in their Premier League season-opener.

“A big, big result coming into the first game of the season against (United) at Old Trafford,” the Spaniard said.

“When you feel that they are building something special and momentum with the new signings and they want to kick off the season in a good way and you are able to come away with the win, I’m very happy.”

Arteta said his side, who spent nearly £200 million (S$347.4 million) in the close season after three consecutive second-place finishes, did a couple of things well.

“One, to take the set piece and then react to especially mistakes,” he said. “Some of them are necessary, some of them unusual.

“But the way every single player reacted to that gives us the opportunity to win the game. If not, it’s impossible.

“And that’s about how we compete and how much we want to take it.”

While United were the better team, Arteta said Arsenal winning while not at their best was a reason for confidence.

“When you’re not at your standards in certain aspects, which today we weren’t, being fair, we can still come away and find a way to win the game,” he said.

“And the team has to find that resilience throughout the season for 10 months in different contexts to be able to do that.

“Of course, we have to improve a lot of things and that will happen very soon. But in terms of managing to get that into a very positive result, that’s a great way to do it.” REUTERS