Manchester United lost yet again in the Premier League, this time to an equally poor Tottenham Hotspur with Spurs winning at home after 105 days on Sunday.
Ruben Amorim’s side slipped to 15th in the table and with a mounting injury crisis, the season looks to be heading towards a painful conclusion.
James Maddison’s 13th minute goal proved to be the difference in the end with United guilty of spurning a few gilt-edged chances, especially Alejandro Garnacho’s opportunity in the first-half from only 10 yards out which he skied over.
The head coach picked an attacking team with Joshua Zirkzee partnering Rasmus Hojlund up front but the Dane was anonymous yet again.
Rasmus anonymous yet again
He has now not scored in 15 games running and on Sunday, he had two shots on target, both easily saved but at least he got something on target.
The Dane only had 23 touches of the ball, ending the game with only seven successful passes out of 11 with a 64 percent passing accuracy.
The 22-year-old managed 0 dribbles, 0 key passes, 0 long balls. Even worse, he failed to win a single ground duel out of three attempts and managed to win only one out of six aerial duels.
The United No 9 did not help out defensively as well, managing 0 defensive actions in 90 minutes. He lost the ball nine times and was caught offside twice (all stats via sofascore).
With time running out and after seeing Hojlund struggle for the entire game, Amorim should have tried to take a risk and
thrown on academy sensation Chido Obi earlier.
Amorim should start trusting Chido Obi
Yet he clearly lacked any real bravery and put him on only for three minutes of added time as Spurs completed a league double over the Red Devils.
Given the Denmark international’s form, Amorim must look at being more brave and should try and trust the academy as previous managers before him have done.
It cannot get any worse than it is currently. Hojlund does not look capable of even doing the basics right at this stage and despite a promising showing on Sunday, Joshua Zirkzee is not a No 9.
United should cut their losses on the Danish striker in the summer even if for a hefty loss with quite the queue forming for his signature.
Feature image Michael Regan 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
