Manchester United showed there’s life in the battered squad yet, fighting for a creditable 2-2 against Liverpool at Anfield to snap a four-game losing streak.
Amad and Lisandro Martinez were on the scoresheet in a game full of heroes, starting from Manuel Ugarte’s domination to Noussair Mazraoui shining with and without the ball.
Bruno Fernandes had a captain’s display, while the likes of Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot found form despite being up against one of the best attacks in Europe.
Ruben Amorim will have some hope again after listening for a whole week that the whole Man Utd squad is good for nothing and needs replacing.
One player in the squad, however, never had those barbs aimed at him and after a virtuoso display against Liverpool, he looks like a player who would look right at home in Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest teams.
Amad looks like Sir Alex Ferguson’s ideal player
For years, Sir Alex Ferguson refreshed his teams and remained on top for nearly 20 of his 26 years as Manchester United manager.
He did that through talented players, yes, but the intangibles were so important to keep the dressing room motivated and firing for success.
Standards were set every day on the training pitch to the extent that the actual games looked like a walk in the park, with players willing to step up when the going got tough.
That intangible quality of just sensing the occasion and rising up to it has been missing from the recent United squads, who wilt in the face of pressure.
It is why United’s worst results in recent times have come in the biggest games but one player who has separated himself from the rubble is Amad, who was at it again vs Liverpool.
The Ivorian has made it a habit of making himself counted when the spotlight shines the brightest and he did so against vs Liverpool with his late equaliser.
It comes after an audacious winner at the Etihad Stadium, following on from his wild winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup last season.
Amad is in a select company with those heroics and at this point, is firmly a big game player, the likes of whom Sir Alex built his empire on.
Ruben Amorim is fixing a big issue at Man Utd
Amad has been doing it since Erik ten Hag was here but Ruben Amorim has set about fixing a big issue at the club by making them competitive in big games.
Barring Chelsea, United have already traveled to every conventional “top-six” ground under Ruben Amorim and emerged with credit in arguably every single fixture.
They should have won at Tottenham, won at City, could have won at Anfield and a single set-piece weakness defiled a good display at Arsenal.
Within just two months, Amorim has changed the outlook of the team in big games, where, under Erik ten Hag, fans used to wait for these games with a sense of trepidation.
Amad’s intangible quality is spreading to the team and sometimes, all it takes is one player to stand up and get himself counted for the whole team to start matching his level.
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