United are going nowhere

For all the euphoria at the Etihad, the past six league games have been no better than the first six of the season

FIVE ASIDES Premier League: United 0, Bournemouth 3

Ruben Amorim talks a good game, and he worked wonders at Sporting CP – but under him, United are going nowhere. He’s now been in charge for six league games and the results have been just the same as the first six games of the season – two wins, one draw, three defeats, seven points. Amorim has done OK in the Europa League (played two, won two, coming from behind both times), but in his meetings with Premier League teams, including the Carabao Cup, he has largely flopped – two wins, one draw, four defeats. The only PL teams he has beaten are Everton, who are 17th in the table since Nov 1, and Man City, who are 20th.

Where Ruud van Nistelrooy steadied the ship, Amorim has rocked the boat. He has somehow made United even more inconsistent than they were under Erik ten Hag. In the past 16 days they’ve veered from a bad home defeat at the hands of Forest to a famous away win at City to a not-too-bad away defeat at Tottenham (it’s Christmas, we can err on the side of kindness) and now another bad home defeat to Bournemouth, who won 3-0 at Old Trafford for the second time in 13 months. When Amorim said recently that a storm was coming, he didn’t mention that lightning was about to strike twice. United have now lost three of their last four league games, which, even in this dismal season, is their worst run. If Amorim wasn’t so new, he’d be a strong candidate for the sack.

The inconsistency is coming straight from the top. Against Bournemouth Amorim picked his eighth different front three in nine games, and his ninth different midfield four. Some rotation is advisable at this hectic time of year, but he has chopped and changed far more than necessary. Since the draw at Ipswich, he has recorded two wins followed by two defeats followed by two wins followed by two defeats. That’s the trouble with rotation: it can mean that you go round in circles.

Ten Hag’s United had an obvious Achilles’ heel. They struggled to mark the man lurking near the penalty spot, so they died the death of a thousand cut-backs. Amorim’s United have retained that weakness and added another: they’re abysmal at defending set pieces. The first goal against Bournemouth came from a free kick stupidly given away by Tyrell Malacia, who had done nothing to demand a start. Ryan Christie swung the ball in, aiming for the head of his tallest team-mate, Dean Huijsen, who was being marked by Joshua Zirkzee, rather than by an actual defender. These two Dutch-born footballers tried to foul each other, without success. The difference between them was that Huijsen also jumped. His glancing back-header made it the sixth game in a row in which Amorim had seen his team go 1-0 down.

United rallied, played well for a while and created several chances, most of them wasted by Bruno Fernandes. Then Noussair Mazraoui, who had been moved to wing-back, where we know he struggles, because Malacia had been replaced by Leny Yoro at half-time, gave away a penalty so blatant that only Fernandes and Harry Maguire could possibly argue with it. And in no time Bournemouth had made it game over with a goal from a cut-back, as Lisandro Martinez failed to see the danger lurking by the penalty spot. So there were mistakes by the players, but behind them lay mistakes by the manager – starting Malacia, playing two defenders as wing-backs yet again even though it wasn’t working, sticking stubbornly to that policy even after taking Malacia off, denting Alejandro Garnacho’s confidence (he has had only one shot since being sent to the naughty step – an easy one in this game, which he messed up) , and leaving Marcus Rashford out in the cold. The biggest single reason United lost this game was because their finishing was all over the place. If only they had a forward who had vastly outperformed his expected goals this season. Still, say what you like about United – at least they’re the best team in Manchester. Merry Christmas.

Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. If you’re on Bluesky, do follow him.