Manchester United crumbled at home yet again as Crystal Palace clinched a 2-0 win in the Premier League on Sunday to leapfrog the hosts into 12th place.
The Red Devils have conceded more goals at Old Trafford than Leicester City have let in at The King Power, which goes to show how leaky the defence has been.
But that was not the major problem against the Eagles as the attack fluffed their lines yet again despite enjoying twice the possession, and winning 11 corners to 0.
Ruben Amorim was so exasperated with strikers Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee that he chose to start Kobbie Mainoo up front and the move did not pay off.
Dalot struggled at left wingback again
Before the game, new signings Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven were unveiled in front of the crowd and the Dane’s debut cannot come soon enough.
With Tyrell Malacia on his way out and Luke Shaw injured, the head coach was once again forced to start Diogo Dalot on the left and the Portugal international once again struggled to create any openings.
The 25-year-old was extremely sloppy with the ball and lost possession a mammoth 20 times. He was weak in his defending as well, winning only five out of 14 duels.
Due to lack of options, he remained out on the pitch and ended the game with 80 percent passing accuracy, misplacing nine passes (all stats via sofascore).
Dorgu will be a huge improvement on the Portuguese
The ex-Porto star did manage one key pass, but did not muster a single attempt on goal. He completed two crosses and one long ball and only 33 percent of his dribbles.
Dalot was dribbled past once while he managed to make four clearances. Not enough to justify playing as a wingback in Amorim’s system.
Noussair Mazraoui did not fare much better and playing traditional full-backs in this 3-4-3 system limits the team’s attacking output and offers very little help to the two No 10s and striker.
Once Dorgu comes in, he is likely to slot into the left wingback role while Dalot could switch to right wingback. Even then, he is likely to struggle, which is why the club seem eager to bring in Geovany Quenda from Sporting Lisbon in the summer.
Feature image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
