Jamie Carragher pays ultimate compliment to Ruben Amorim with seven-word verdict on Man Utd vs Liverpool

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Manchester United sent a reminder of their footballing qualities to the world in their battling draw at Anfield that could have been much more.

Ruben Amorim passed a big test as Man Utd manager in the most difficult circumstances when nobody expected his team to do anything positive in the enemy’s den.

In fact, so positive was the performance, that it even caught Amorim off guard, with Bruno Fernandes also wondering why they couldn’t do it in every game.

The effort and the passion were there, but those two things can never be enough to get a result against arguably Europe’s most in-form team.

Amorim deserves huge credit for the way he set his team up, utilising the first extended training time to its maximum. After Virgil van Dijk’s praise for United, Jamie Carragher has paid Amorim the ultimate compliment.

Jamie Carragher praises Ruben Amorim impact vs Liverpool

Amorim has never been one to take credit for the good performances, always fronting up for bad results like a true leader and a master of the press.

However, the imprints of Amorim’s system in full flow were clearly visible at Anfield, with United not just doing a smash-and-grab, but genuinely controlling the game.

Carragher broke down what United did well in Amorim’s system on the day which unsettled Liverpool and threw them off their rhythm completely. “System getting the better of another system” was how he summed up the game, which is the ultimate compliment for any manager.

He said: “They immediately pressed high and then settled back into shape nicely. The United front three pinned the Liverpool back four.

“This was a case of the 3-4-3 system getting the better of Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1 system. Liverpool had to play a back five at times because United’s front three pinned them so far back.

“It was the system getting the better of another system. They took the sting out of Liverpool, the system worked brilliantly.”

Ruben Amorim’s ‘idea’ is taking shape at Man Utd

It is funny watching Carragher wax lyrical about a system that Amorim was being pressured to change after United’s four-game losing streak.

Amorim has maintained that his idea makes him who he is so changing it at the first sign of adversity would make no sense, and he was loudly vindicated at Anfield.

It was the first time he had received extended training time with the full Man Utd squad and the results of that were immediately visible in their clarity of thought.

Amorim promised an ‘idea’ to the fans as soon as he came in, the signs of which were visible even when United were effectively training during the games.

Now that United are out of Carabao Cup, giving them two consecutive free midweeks, it will be worth its weight in gold for Amorim to work with the players even more.

United are finally going somewhere, and making polarising judgments is something Amorim will have to live with while he goes about doing his own thing.