.png)
2 days ago
4
Manchester United are dipping towards the drop zone under Ruben Amorim, a head coach who took over on 11 November and forgot to pack the “bounce” often gifted to an employer after sacking the last guy. This is United’s fourth consecutive loss and, after 11 games, the Portuguese coach’s record reads six defeats and four wins.
Peer at the table and Amorim’s side are 14th on 22 points after taking the same number, 11, in nine league matches as they did under Erik ten Hag, his predecessor. Yet again the 3-4-3 formation failed and to see Joshua Zirkzee yanked off after the half hour was to witness an encapsulation of United’s disarray. Another was the reinstatement of Marcus Rashford to the squad after the forward said he wanted a “new challenge”. Make sense of the head coach’s thinking on that one, if you can.
Three minutes and 30 seconds were all it took for Amorim to dip his head in despair. Fluid from Newcastle, it was amateurish by United who, despite having their three centre-backs Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martínez lined up, still allowed Alexander Isak to rise, unmarked, plum before André Onana’s goal and head in.
Maguire and Martínez were the prime culprits as the in-form Swede split them to score an eighth goal in his last seven outings. Already, Amorim’s men looked like a pub XI who had staggered on to the local park midway through a particularly enjoyable festive season. Noussair Mazraoui was their next chump as Anthony Gordon’s dazzling speed left the right wing-back trailing before the Newcastle winger teed up Joelinton. He fired over but, before long, Isak zagged in from the left. The shot disappointed, being easily blocked.
So, too, did the striker’s attempted chip of Onana after he had run clear on to Bruno Guimarães’s 50-yard pass from near his area. It had Amorim raging at his backline and he felt even deeper disgust when, again, Eddie Howe’s side scored with ease.
It came thanks to a United midfield that was warm butter to Newcastle’s red-hot knife. Possession was worked wide to Gordon, he stood the ball up, and Joelinton made the hapless Martínez look like a schoolboy by rising and heading the second.
Amorim was to blame for the gaping holes as, with Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes unavailable, he eschewed the silky offerings and 19-year-old legs of Kobbie Mainoo to send Casemiro and Christian Eriksen – at a combined age of 64– into combat against Newcastle’s muscular, pacy trio of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Guimarães.
The visiting fans were delighted, taunting their hosts with the killer line from the Beach Boys’ Sloop John B – “this is the best trip I’ve ever been on” – and soon they were in even louder raptures. A Tonali effort led to a corner and Kieran Trippier’s delivery went close to beating Onana, as he had been from a set piece in Boxing Day’s 2-0 reverse at Wolves. The follow-up threatened, too, but not as much as Tonali, who hit a post moments after.
How could Amorim and his men feel even worse? By the 39-year-old deciding 32 minutes in that his selection was so dismal that Zirkzee should be yanked off for Mainoo. He dropped in alongside Casemiro, Eriksen taking the humiliated Dutchman’s berth. Zirkzee trotted straight down the tunnel. United’s only hope was Newcastle giving it away: Fabian Schär looped the ball straight to Mainoo, his pass went to Casemiro and his chip-cross to no one. United had returned the poorest 45 minutes of Amorim’s brief tenure.
after newsletter promotion
The second half was a test for each manager. Could Howe maintain his team’s excellence. Might Amorim engineer a revival? The visitors would be four or five clear if chances were taken.
Rasmus Højlund earned a corner, United’s first, on 51 minutes, but Eriksen’s execution was as effective as Casemiro’s outside-of-the-boot cross, after it broke. Still, it was brighter from the hosts. Amad Diallo’s attempt was repelled and United tapped the ball about, exerting some control, in a phase culminating in Maguire’s diving header, which rapped Martin Dubravka’s right post.
Suddenly Old Trafford was a cauldron, United’s vigour giving the faithful something to believe in. Amorim introduced Leny Yoro and Alejandro Garnacho for Martínez and Casemiro, leaving Marcus Rashford a spectator still, with Maguire taking the armband. Yoro flashed a header wide and on jogged Antony for De Ligt. But, bottom line: there is no thrust or menace about United. Amorim is overseeing a plunge.
