Ruben Amorim picked up his second win in seven league games and second clean sheet in 12 PL matches. Both were necessary however, how his team got there remains a mystery because that performance was shocking.
Despite getting the 3 points, there were more negatives than positives.
1. Playing too narrow
We do very much NOT like to use the wings. Our style of play is very narrow as when you put your two best wide players as number 10s, you lose pretty much all your attacking prowess down the flanks.
Dalot and Mazraoui provide nothing going forward and with Amad and Garnacho playing as CAMs, you take them away from their best positions as well as remove their best attributes.
Whenever those two are out wide, we have the chance of isolating them against full-backs and give us some sort of attacking threat from the wings. Amorim's system relies a lot on his wing-backs being threatening in the final third so when this is taken away because of who's playing in those positions, then it doesn't work.
The number 10 position/s is one that sees a lot more congestion because it is more central compared to that of out wide where there is the chance for more space. The relationship with the defender behind the wing-backs also helps in this case in terms of overlapping or underlapping runs and just simple combination play.
Amad and Garnacho also like to run with the ball a lot and are quite direct. Their speed and skill is also best utilized out wide than through the middle.
With the manager playing five defenders and looking like he wants to keep things tight defensively, using these more expansive players down the flanks is not an option at the moment but does restrict us in attack.
2. Too much space
We let the opposition have too much space and time. We don't get close to them nor do we do it quick enough to a point where players can drive all the way into the final third, balls are put into the box (which we know we can't defend) and shots are taken where anything can happen, as we saw with Martinez's goal
Players seem to be on the back foot and make the attempt to get a foot in too late which I don't like. We need to be on them a lot quicker and try to stop the opportunity before it happens.
3. Rasmus ain't it (at the moment)
I like Hojlund. I think there's a very good striker in there but as for now, he is pretty fucking awful ngl.
There's no aspect of his game that warrants him a start and makes me think that he isn't that bad.
The only area of his game that I will cut him some slack for is in the chance creation department. This is something faced by all his predecessors. Creating goal scoring opportunities isn't the striker's job as it is for them to put it in the net which even now, Hojlund still possesses one of the best conversion rates in Europe. Give him the chances, I believe he will score.
But where he is failing is in the rest of his play as centre-forward. The number 9 has to be someone who is strong and physical when coming up against big and strong centre-backs. They need to be able to hold the ball up so as to bring others into play and at times, provide respite for his team when in tough situations which for us, is quite a lot.
Linking up the play, running the channels to create space for teammates and good movement in and around the box are parts of his game that is seriosuly lacking too. He was not too bad at these in his first season despite not being at the level required yet was much better than this campaign.
I also believe that he is low on confidence. He is not the first player to be affected by this as many of the United players are but Hojlund at the moment looks like a player who's struggling mentally which results in his physical side of the game being lax. He needed to score a goal like Martinez, something that was a bit fortunate because at the moment, it appears as if he (and United) won't be scoring anything through great football. Some fortune is required.
This could give him the confidence he may need to improve his game.
Nonetheless, he needs to be much better but we need more from both our strikers.
4. We are so boring
Good lord are we a hard watch!
It's one thing to win playing badly but it's quite another to do so with entirely nothing going on in the game. At times in these type of performances, teams do show something to actually get you on the edge of your seat whether that be a shot from distance, a good piece of play, or a passage of football that indicates that perhaps the team is moving in the right direction.
There was none of this from United. We scored a lucky goal and cleared the ball off the line. That's all.
But it wasn't just in this game where we saw this boring approach as it is a style that has been there for all of this year other than Liverpool and Arsenal funnily enough.
Southampton, Brighton, Rangers and now Fulham have all been very dire displays from Amorim's players as it makes for hard viewing when seeing your team show nothing.
It's not just about winning as United but to do it with style. A Sunday night game is not something that we're all used to as we'd prefer to be watching an action movie as that provides entertainment. That's precisely what we don't do.
Something has to change.
5. Are we grinders?
Not in that way ❌😅.
I mean more in the sense of as we are boring and don't look like we've ever seen a football before, are we now a team that just looks to get the job done regardless of performance?
As mentioned in the previous point, we have not been good at football for a while. Other than a few isolated instances, we haven't indicated at all that we're actually improving under Amorim. Some might say we've gone backwards!
And weirdly, I would agree with that. Sort of.
After his two heavy losses at the start of his reign, Erik ten Hag then decided that enough was enough and made his team hard to beat. It was very much keep things tight and look to get the odd goal before shutting things up entirely.
Southampton and Leicester in that period come to mind as those performances and results were pretty much what we saw against Fulham.
Very flat, no energy, lack of ideas, no action and in the end, reliant on moments to bail us out. Our last two league games have seen just 2 shots on target. One was a penalty, the other a deflected effort, the latter of which came from a centre-back.
Winning when you're playing badly isn't the worst thing but we play badly all the time and only win on the odd occasion. If you play in this way, you make sure you win all the time otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time.
This isn't the football Amorim wants to play either which leads me to believe especially with the five defenders that perhaps he is setting us up not to lose rather than try to win?
A very Mourinho-like approach to football.
We've conceded too many goals and too many stupid goals at that and having little time to train the team, maybe the manager has just decided to make sure we don't lose and at some point, someone or something will produce a moment and we can get a positive result. A very simple approach to football that is probably closer to the levels of these players than any other type.
That is not a way to play football let alone 'Amorim ball.'
I thought we were done with such days 🤷♂️.
Background Image: Lisandro Martinez celebrates with Man Utd teammates after scoring late winner to give his side the 3 points against Fulham | Image via ManchesterUnited officil X (@ManUtd)