Man United had a rather difficult second half against Newcastle when starters such as Mason Mount and Casemiro were successively withdrawn. When receiving the signal of being substituted, Casemiro was quite surprised. Man United fans at Old Trafford also had a similar situation when Ruben Amorim again drew the shield for the defense in the context that the away team was pressing very strongly.
After the match, Ruben Amorim said that the players must always be in a state of "endurance" like that and in the last 20 minutes of the match, Senne Lammens' goal suffered a lot of storms. Anyway, 3 points remained at Old Trafford and M.U temporarily rose to 5th place in the rankings with this result. This is a great motivation for The Red Devils to be more determined in 2026.
This is a rare match that Man United has not had Bruno Fernandes in nearly 6 years. The reason is that since arriving in January 2020, the Portuguese midfielder has only been sidelined for 3 matches due to injury and health reasons. This time, Man United will lose the captain for about 1 month and right now is the time for Amorim to change the squad.
In the press conference before the match against Newcastle, Ruben Amorim said that finding a replacement for Bruno at this time is impossible, so he will have to adjust tactics. The traditional 3-4-3 formation has been replaced by 4-3-3 with the central defender pair Ayden Heaven - Lisandro Martinez, the wings are Diogo Dalot - Luke Shaw. Mason Mount is the attacking midfielder and below him is the pair Manuel Ugarte - Casemiro.
One of the immediate benefits was Patrick Dorgu's opening goal. In this match, the Danish defender coordinated with Matheus Cunha to create quite a few dangerous phases on the left wing, causing Newcastle's defenders to retreat very deeply. In addition, in the first official match since February 2, Lisandro Martinez did a very good job of distributing the ball from the lower line, ensuring contact with Dorgu and Cunha.
Instead of finding someone to replace Bruno's role, Amorim shared it with all the remaining players. As a result, a more balanced Man United squad, the ball deployment stage was no longer focused on one person.
This was a very good match for Patrick Dorgu when he was scored 8.8 points by Sofascore. After a goal from a sensitive volley in the 24th minute, the 21-year-old defender also forced Anthony Gordon to dribble the ball out of bounds in the 42nd minute. That good defensive situation helped Dorgu receive applause from fans in the Old Trafford stands.
Man United's interest in Antoine Semenyo shows that Ruben Amorim wants to have an attacking star on the wing who can be used for a long time. Dorgu understands that, so he is forced to try harder in the future if he does not want to lose a starting spot.
Not only Dorgu, another young player also played very well, center-back Ayden Heaven. In his rare start, the former Arsenal young star performed very well to score points in Amorim's eyes. In the final minutes of the match, Heaven had many good aerial duels, besides rolling around as if his fitness had not been eroded.
In the final situation when defeating Fabian Schar, it was the 8th time Heaven had saved Man United's penalty area. Remember this is only the 2nd clean sheet match Man United has had since the beginning of the season.
Heaven has had gradually improved performance in the last 5 matches. Previous matches with West Ham, Wolves, Bournemouth and Aston Villa witnessed Heaven's bravery increasingly being shown clearly. Whether he is a midfielder in the 3-4-3 formation or a right-sided center-back in the 4-2-3-1 formation, the English star has adapted well.
It is undeniable that the injuries of Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire have helped Heaven have more opportunities to play. Grasping this advantage, the 19-year-old star is showing that the belief that coach Amorim placed in him is not wrong.
Heaven is an example showing that Amorim has to "take care of everything" in the current context of temporarily being effective. The lack of Bruno, Mbeumo, Amad and Mazraoui for a long time and the lack of money to add more people in the winter transfer window forces the team to maximize the use of the people they have.
If every player progresses like Heaven, Man United will be less worried and maintain their competitive position until all key players return.
