Ruben Amorim and his players have just experienced a week full of emotions. They beat Man City at the Etihad, then lost to Tottenham in the League Cup and continued to lose to Bournemouth in the Premier League. The 0-3 defeat at Old Trafford left the "Red Devils" in the bottom half of the rankings for the first time before Christmas. Another sad record has come to Man United.
"The 0-3 result was really surprising. Before the match, some experts predicted that Man United would lose but the difference could only be 1 goal. Losing 3 goals like that was a huge shock.
They beat Man City last weekend, but in the context of their opponents' rapid decline, almost any team could have won. In the midweek match against Tottenham in the League Cup, despite losing, they still recorded their brave spirit, only to lose with a narrow score of 3-4. However, everything collapsed in this match, from the proactive situations that could not be resolved to the very weak defense of set pieces" - Commentator Quang Huy shared.
Against Bournemouth, Man United left too much space between the full-backs and the centre-backs, often allowing opponents to exploit. Ruben Amorim still insisted on using the 3-4-3 formation to protect the philosophy, but with the current "Red Devils" players, everything seemed too difficult to operate.
"Man United players are not yet familiar with this formation and style of play. Today, Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui were placed on the same wing, which in theory is very convenient but in the end they were still exploited.
To play with the new formation, the M.U players not only need to change the defense or full-backs, the midfield and forwards also have to change the way they move so that the formation can operate smoothly every time they attack and retreat to defend. Obviously, Ruben Amorim does not have enough time, especially in the context of a very tight match schedule, there is no time to practice smoothly" - Commentator Quang Huy commented.
Amorim has shown in recent matches that his substitutions are very smooth and decisions are often made immediately. However, taking off Manuel Ugarte and keeping Kobbie Mainoo against Bournemouth was considered a mistake because the English midfielder often lost in the disputes. Almost immediately after Ugarte left the field, Mainoo made a mistake and lost the ball in the middle of the field, creating the premise for Bournemouth to score.
"I think it was a wrong decision by Ruben Amorim. Kobbie Mainoo showed his physical weakness from the beginning of the match, often losing in one-on-one battles. It seems that this young star has some psychological problems.
Perhaps Amorim thought that Ugarte had played too much recently and needed a break, so he relied on Mainoo's youth, but that was proven wrong" - Commentator Quang Huy commented.
The "Red Devils" attack line was once again called out for missing many opportunities, especially the duo Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund. They continued to miss delicious situations in the context of the home team being very thirsty for goals and not failing to create a controlling game.
If they cannot improve their goal output, Man United may fall further after Christmas and not just settle in 13th place as they are now.
"With such a tight schedule, any player can lose form, even big stars. M.U urgently needs another striker to share the burden with Hojlund, but Zirkzee is just that, not contributing much to scoring goals due to his playing style, mainly operating outside the penalty area.
Such a blunt attack will sometimes cause the team to lose after the strikers miss opportunities. I see that Rashford cannot be "saved" anymore while Garnacho still has a chance. A young player with such a desire but recently being benched quite a lot, can affect the mentality and flow of the match" - Commentator Quang Huy shared.
