Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim had little time for Arne Slot’s spiky comments, offering a blunt retort of, “I don’t care.”
The Liverpool manager has repeatedly delivered a thinly veiled critique of United’s tactics in recent days. Slot came across as bitter when he bemoaned how Amorim’s side were insistent on “playing long balls” in a “low block” even “with all their talented players” after Liverpool were beaten 2–1 at Anfield by that strategy. The Dutch boss doubled down on that stance with another swipe at United after earning a Champions League victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Amorim was unimpressed. “I don’t care what Slot is saying, what people are saying about our team,” he huffed during Friday’s press conference. “I can watch the game and say we can do better and we need to do better in the future but sometimes you need to adapt to the game.”
As United goalkeeper Senne Lammens pointed out after the famous Anfield victory, the Red Devils went long to avoid getting smothered by Liverpool’s high press, an approach which clearly worked.
“I don’t need anyone to evaluate my team,” Amorim added before turning his attention to the visit from Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. “I can evaluate my team and I am really clear that we should play better with the ball and we are going to try to do that in this game.”
Brighton Ready for Man Utd’s Long Balls
Rather than the barbs off the pitch, Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler has been keenly observing the tactics unfolding at United. Much like Liverpool, the Seagulls are inclined to press high and their young German tactician is planning for a similar long-ball response.
“The main thing you need to understand is that it starts with the press, how you attack the goalkeeper, which centre back you want to attack,” Hürzeler explained to Sky Sports ahead of Saturday’s trip to Old Trafford. “And then make sure that you're ready for the long ball.
“When the long ball is played, there are two things that are very important: that you try to win the second ball, and that, if you don’t win the second ball, you have good positioning for the third ball.
“Make sure that, with your last line, you always cover the inner line, so when they try to flick the ball, especially with [Benjamin] Šeško, you can defend against the deep runs from [Matheus] Cunha, from [Bryan] Mbeumo, from [Mason] Mount.
“They are very good at these things, so it’s a job for the whole team, not only of the defensive players. The main thing is to keep the compactness, make sure you have close distances, that you close the gaps, and that you’re really intense for the second ball.”
Eddie Howe Responds to Slot’s Newcastle Swipe
After a serene debut season, the edges of Slot’s affable front have begun to fray during Liverpool’s current run of poor form. Having tried to downplay his comments about United, the 47-year-old made another incendiary remark—intentionally or otherwise—when he labelled Newcastle United a “smaller club” while discussing the injury recovery of former Magpies striker Alexander Isak.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was fed this apparent jibe by a press pack eager to spark some tension but calmly batted it away. “I don’t think that’s wise for me to get involved in those discussions,” the wary coach replied. “Alex is no longer at this football club, so I won’t comment on it.”
It was pointed out to Howe that Newcastle currently sit above Liverpool in the Champions League’s league phase table and have grand ambitions of their own. The English coach agreed: “The set-up is here is very good. It is not perfect, we’ve got things to improve and to grow. But the owners here have developed the facilities since I’ve been here very, very well.
“You can see there is building work going on currently to hopefully deliver even better in the future. But I have no complaints. We’ve got elite athletes here, many of them, and touch wood, we’re managing them pretty well at the moment.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ruben Amorim Has Three-Word Response to Arne Slot Jibes .