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Manchester United endured a night to forget as they slumped to a bitter 2-0 defeat to Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers.
While Man United saw more of the ball into the first half and controlled momentum for long phases, Bruno Fernandes’ sending-off in the 47th minute unravelled his team’s performance.
With still so much of the match to play, it was almost predictable that United would crumble under the pressure, particularly given their poor run of form leading into the match.
Although the likes of Fernandes and Rasmus Hojlund clearly let United down with their shambolic performances, former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves was of the opinion that the reasons for United’s struggles are not limited to individual players.
“I saw it coming before the game,” Hargreaves started off by admitting. “As soon as I saw the team, I said this won’t be easy. And it wasn’t. They don’t create any sense of play; they don’t look like scoring.”
“Look, he’s got his way of playing,” the former Champions League winner star said of Amorim. “He has been successful there at Sporting, but right now, this team needs to find a way to get some form of results. Right now, they don’t look like they could get a result anywhere. This is a team that’s in a relegation battle.”
“At some point, you need to watch Manchester United and know who’s gonna play,” Hargreaves declared, squarely laying some blame on Amorim’s team selection.
“Right now, you never know who’s gonna play because there’s so many different players rotating all the time. I think for him, it would be a lot easier to say, these are my guys who are on form, these 14, 15, but right now, there’s nothing.”
“I don’t see any partnerships,” Hargreaves later observed. “You watch United now, you don’t know who’s gonna play. So, I think, in terms of having a bit of consistency, goalscoring was a thing. Now it’s the conceding goals from set pieces. There’s a lot of issues.”
Still, Hargreaves did have some praise for Amorim.
“I think the only saving grace is they’ve got a really good manager. He’s a brilliant communicator, but it’s gonna be a lot harder than he thought,” he continued. “They’re gonna have to give him time. He’s a great manager.”
Overall, Hargreaves seems to be of the opinion that Amorim is the right manager for the job – he simply needs time to find his feet at what is a club in jeopardy. Hopefully, the January transfer window will provide him with his first opportunity to build the squad of his liking.
Featured Image Naomi Baker via Getty Images
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