In a end-to-end encounter an injury-raved Man Utd side lost 1-0 away to Tottenham Hotspur.
A running theme of the season continued as United created chances and couldn’t put them away. Here are five things we learnt from Utd’s 12th loss of the season:
1) Spaces in midfield
The midfield is almost picking itself with injuries to Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte, Ruben Amorim turned to Casemiro.
It’s clear the Brazilian is incapable of marshalling the 40 yards he was able to do in 22/23 and looked rusty. During the first half, United were lucky their pressing system and shape without the ball wasn’t punished more as the distances between Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro were huge. A better team would’ve scored more, as it paints a bleak picture of what could be to come with Mainoo and Ugarte out.
2) Goalscoring difficulties continue
Such is the nature of playing Tottenham Hotspur, they do afford you space. United just couldn’t take advantage. Alejandro Garnacho’s guilt-edged one-on-one chance should’ve at least hit the target but the Argentinian somehow scuffed his effort over the bar.
With Amad Diallo out, a forward is going to have step up and score goals for a team who are the 5th lowest scorers in the league.
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3) Good Performances from Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu
A silver lining to another disappointing defeat was the performances of Josh Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu on his Premier League debut.
At the very least, Zirkzee’s overall game, link-up play, confidence in tight spaces and football IQ is good, so if he isn’t firing on a goalscoring front the Dutchman still offers something in attack. Dorgu on the other hand looked comfortable on his wing and made good overlapping runs, unfortunately they were largely ignored by Garnacho.
4) Helter Skelter Pace
For elite sides like Tottenham Hotspur and Man Utd, the quality level particularly in the final 20 minutes dropped off hugely. The game was akin to a pattern of ‘you attack, we attack’ with both sides running up the pitch attempting to score, before the move broke down and the other team would take their turn to fluff their lines in attack.
There was still space to exploit in behind Tottenham Hotspur in the 2nd half, after an initial flurry, United never calmly got the ball down and played, often rushing the pass.
5) Unused Youthful Bench
Without sounding bleak, there isn’t too much to be positive about right now at Manchester United. Playing footballers from the academy is a tradition in the club and could’ve given the fans something to hold onto.
Though it might’ve felt like Amorim was forced to have a bench full of players from the academy (bar Victor Lindelof), many anticipated seeing youth team players get first team minutes.
This wasn’t the case and despite giving Chido Obi-Martin two minutes at the end of the game, a lack of substitutions may have hindered Utd in the second half when legs were tiring.
If there was a game to slowly ease academy players in, this may have been it. Tottenham had space and couldn’t put United away, mistakes were made by many players all across the pitch.
Against teams like Everton, Ipswich Town and Arsenal, these are games where the youth players when thrusted in may find it more difficult physically.
Source: Centred Devils
