Ruben Amorim and his students have just experienced a week of many emotions. They beat Man City at the Etihad, then lost to Tottenham in the League Cup and then lost 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 for Man United.
"The 0-3 result was really surprising. Before the match, some experts predicted Man United would lose, but the gap could only be 1 goal. To lose 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 a brave spirit, only to lose with a close score of 3-4. However, everything collapsed in this match, from proactive situations that could not be solved to dealing with situations that were too weak" - Commentator Quang Huy shared.
Against Bournemouth, Man United left too many gaps between the two full-backs and the central defenders, often allowing the opponent to exploit. Ruben Amorim is determined to use the 3-4-3 formation to protect the philosophy but with the current "Red Devils", everything seems too difficult to operate.
" Man United players are not used to this formation and playing style. Today, Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui were placed on the same wing, which was theoretically very favorable but was still exploited in the end.
To play with the new formation, M.U players not only need to change in defense or full-back, but also have to change the way of movement so that the formation operates smoothly every time they attack and retreat to defend. It is clear that 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 that Amorim showed that in the past matches, his ability to replace players is very smooth and decisions are often made immediately. However, withdrawing 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 pitch, Mainoo lost the ball in midfield, setting the stage for Bournemouth to score.
"I think it was the wrong decision by Ruben Amorim. Kobbie Mainoo showed physical fatigue from the start of the match, often losing in one-on-one disputes. It seems that this young star has some psychological problems.
Perhaps Amorim thought that Ugarte had played too much recently and needed a break, thereby relying on Mainoo's youth, but that has proven wrong" - Commentator Quang Huy commented.
The "Red Devils" attack was once again mentioned for missing many opportunities, especially the duo Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund. They continued to miss good situations in the context of the home team being very hungry for goals and not being unable to create a control game.
If they cannot improve their goal output, Man United may still suffer a disastrous decline after Christmas, not just settling down 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, Zirkzee just came and did not contribute much to the goal because his playing style mainly operated widely outside the penalty area.
Such a sloppy attack would sometimes cause the team to lose after the strikers missed the opportunity. I realized that Rashford could not "save" him anymore while Garnacho still had a chance. A young player who is so eager but has recently been benched quite a lot, which can affect his mentality and the flow of the game" - Commentator Quang Huy shared.
