It wasn't the most amazing of derbies. It was pretty drab but that isn't always a bad thing especially when looking at United this season. I'd rather have had a few drab 0-0s than some of the matches we've seen.
Yet despite the boring-ness of the non-spectacle of a derby, there was still much to take away that were positives for Amorim even though he did say post-match that we need to improve in passing, shooting, defending, creating chances. Okay, that's what David Moyes said all those years ago but Amorim was along those lines.
1. Hojlund needs to be benched
I was surprised when Amorim didn’t start him against Forest. Considering his prior good performances against Real Sociedad at home and at Leicester on top of scoring for Denmark during the international break, it made sense for the manager to keep that momentum going.
Yet he decided against it and benched the Dane at Forest. We can see that he’s a confidence player and that confidence has been really low this season. He hadn’t scored in 20+ games before that strike at the King Power. He then gets some confidence only for the boss to leave him out of the side.
Confidence gets knocked at a time when it looked to be improving.
But as we’re in no position to be feeling sorry for anyone, it is maybe time for the striker to sit on the bench for a period. It's also not as if he didn't have ample opportunities to showcase what he's got.
Zirkzee came on and immediately looked better than his teammate. He won the ball back in good areas and had one of our better chances with that left-footed effort. That was more than Hojlund managed in his 70 minutes on the field.
The return of Mount also means that Amorim has an extra option for one of his number 10s. Garnacho has been played there often and we know that Bruno can play there as well. You also have both Casemiro and Ugarte to play as the pivots giving us that cover in midfield.
Amorim can use Zirkzee up front with Mount, Garnacho or Bruno behind him with the Dutchman himself being able to drop deeper and allow someone else to move into that vacant striker position.
Hojlund may also need that time on the bench to give him the kick up the backside he needs. This usually spurs players on to try and play better. The 22 year old has also not looked too bad in some of his substitute appearances. He also gives us another option should we need it.
2. Bruno better as no 8
I believe this is so.
For a long time, it appeared that the captain’s best position was as a number 10. Under previous managers, that seemed to be the case but maybe that was because he was the sole CAM rather than part of a pair.
In Amorim’s system, we have two no 10s meaning there isn’t as much space for that sole CAM to operate in which may hamper Bruno a little causing him to not be as potent in the final third as before.
The last two games have seen the manager move the skipper into his supposed best position yet that output has been missing. Bruno did create the most chances against City but we know that this isn’t something new with him. However, there was no goal or assist with the latter perhaps being down to his teammates more than himself.
Yet prior to these last two matches, Amorim had deployed Bruno as a no 8 next to the CDM be it Ugarte or Casemiro. There’s been instances where Bruno himself was the holding midfielder but whichever position he played as part of that midfield pivot, he looked to be a better player whilst still producing goals and assists.
In the previous five, Bruno had 8 goals and assists while playing deeper albeit some were free-kicks and penalties. I also found that he was more disciplined from deeper and had more of an overall influence on the game.
Further forward, he hasn’t been as in the game as we would like resulting in United struggling up front. He only had 1 shot in the derby which is very un-Bruno-like.
As a no 8 it is probably where he should play for the rest of the season especially now that we have several options for those two CAM positions
3. Not taking advantage of players
Ruben Dias had a yellow card for virtually the entire game. Matheus Nunes was a midfielder playing at right-back. At no point in the game did I feel we put them under real pressure. The same for young Nico O’Reilly in the other full-back position.
To have gotten a yellow card in the 2nd minute means you’re on thin ice for the rest of the game. You’re going to be tentative and hesistant with challenges in case you get sent off. Dias didn’t have to worry about this because he was never under real pressure and ended up having a fairly decent afternoon.
As Hojlund is the striker, he had that responsibility to get at the centre-back and try to make him worried yet did little and less to truly make Dias sweat.
We also never really got anyone (mainly Garnacho) in situations where he could take on Nunes one-on-one and take advantage of the midfielder’s lack of ability as a full-back. He actually had a strong showing as well.
It grinds my gears when we don’t get at them because playing against 10 obviously gives you an advantage and that advantage was there but much like our finishing, we didn’t make the most of it. The same with Nunes and O'Reilly.
These small things can make a big difference.
4. Attacking down the flanks
With the 3-4-2-1 system, it relies a lot on attacks to come down either wing displaying the importance of strong wing-backs.
Unfortunately, all of Mazraoui, Dalot and Dorgu aren’t good enough as wing-backs to get us to the level we want to be. Shaw can be but he’s forever injured.
For this game in particular though, it was perhaps our best in terms of using our wing-backs for those attacks. A lot of what United created in the final third came from the left or right-wing with both Dorgu and Dalot being heavily involved.
The Dane was used more but it’s not as though Dalot didn’t have some joy of his own. One cross was a standout but it was just too much for Casemiro to get his head on it with Garnacho not reacting quick enough to make the most of perhaps the best cross of the game.
Dorgu had many such opportunities but one can see that he is lacking that quality in the final third. A couple of average crosses that he should’ve done better with and also some chances where he should’ve done better with his shot.
But just the fact that we’re getting in these positions and using the wing-backs is an improvement in itself. We’ve seen these players struggle to understand how to properly play in the 3-4-2-1 but maybe they are now getting to grips with it?
Even Garnacho was much improved and was using the wing-back a lot more than he’s been doing so.
Speaking of the number 17, he was also involved with creating chances from wide positions. His cutback gave Dorgu one of our better openings but as it was on his weaker foot, the defender didn’t fancy it and ended up taking a heavy touch and giving the ball away.
But what this match showed was how important the wing-backs can be if used correctly.
5. Creating better chances
I feel like the past month or so has seen not only an improvement in the amount of chances we’re creating but the type of chances.
Google says that a chance creation is ‘a player's actions that lead to a scoring opportunity, encompassing both key passes (passes leading to a shot) and assists (passes resulting in a goal).’
So in a way, if I pass you the ball and you shoot especially on target, that counts as a chance created. This shot can come from 40 yards out and the right wing.
We’ve seen us do that in earlier parts of the season right through to the last month with Bruno and Garnacho being big culprits of this. They’re not opportunities that are as exaggerated as my example, but they really do like a shot from here, there and everywhere. Frustration for all then follows and we give up possession cheaply.
What we’ve seen particularly from the Real Sociedad first leg was that we began to get into great areas and situations and carve out openings in and around the box.
We have more opportunities closer to goal instead of trying for the spectacular. Against City, United had created 8 chances to our opponents’ 5 and had almost double the touches in the opposition box to city with 29 - 15.
In addition, we also had more shots, crosses and corners. However, with just 2 attempts on target, it indicated exactly where the main issue lies.
It’s a pity that a lot of these chances fell to the likes of Dorgu, Casemiro and Ugarte, players not known for their finishing. But at least we're getting into these positions in the first place.
An improvement of sorts.
Background Image: Alejandro Garnacho in Man Utd 0-0 Man City | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)