Manchester United paid the price for a number of defensive errors, losing their Carabao Cup quarter-final to Tottenham Hotspur 3-4 away from home on Thursday.
Ruben Amorim took yet another bold call to drop Andre Onana to give reserve keeper Altay Bayindir his first start under him. And the move backfired in a big way.
The Turkish international was at fault for both the first and fourth goals and with rumours of an exit gathering pace, the Red Devils should just get rid and find a better replacement.
Rasmus Hojlund started up front yet again and put in another shambolic display, hardly troubling the Spurs backline during his 56 minutes on the pitch.
Rasmus was poor again
The Dane managed 0 shots on target and ended the night with a dismal 67% passing accuracy having only 23 touches and finding a teammate with only eight passes (all stats via sofascore).
He won only 40% of his duels and was regularly outmuscled by the Spurs backline. He is young and has scope to improve, but the Denmark international has failed to improve his back-to-goal play since his move to Manchester.
The coaching staff must try and help him find a solution as the United No 9 often is too focussed on the physical battles rather than trying to use his head. If he fails to improve, he will struggle to score consistently in England.
In contrast, substitute Joshua Zirkzee was a livewire during his cameo and scored his team’s first of the night and looked far more dangerous than the former Atalanta starlet.
Zirkzee impressive cameo
In 34 minutes, the Netherlands international managed two shots on target and missed one big chance while had one effort on goal blocked.
He had 10 touches of the ball and completed four out of six passes and he now has three goals this month under Amorim.
Zirkzee has been linked with an exit after a poor start to life as a United star but he is beginning to show signs of finding his feet at the 20-time English league champions.
The Dutchman was much more competent with his back to goal, regularly outmuscling the Spurs backline with his physicality and deserves to start against Bournemouth ahead of Hojlund at the weekend.
Feature image Alex Pantling 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
