Manchester United suffered their third consecutive defeat, losing to Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 at the Molineux Stadium on Thursday.
Bruno Fernandes saw a second yellow card within the first minute of the second half and the visitors proceeded to implode and concede another set-piece goal before the hosts scored their second in added time to make matters sure.
Ruben Amorim has now won only seven points from a possible 21 and has accrued even less points in his first seven games than former boss Erik ten Hag won in his final seven ties.
The Portuguese had announced when he first arrived that he would not compromise with his vision and would continue to utilise his favoured 3-4-3 system.
Players simply not good enough
He was being naive if he thought he could get a tune out of these players, who have failed multiple managers before, especially with the squad lacking the resources to play his preferred style.
The club have an abundance of inconsistent wingers and not enough quality midfielders for Amorim’s style to work. And two of those players have had a falling-out with the head coach.
Marcus Rashford missed out for the fourth game running while Alejandro Garnacho was only utilised as a second-half substitute.
The skipper, the club’s best bet at getting them out of trouble over the years, does not fit on the left of a front three while he lacks the discipline to play further back and it is clear, that he is not a natural fit and has struggled as a result.
The squad has no wingbacks with all the left-sided full-backs injury-prone while Diogo Dalot has continued to struggle on the left, but has been forced to play there due to a lack of options.
Both goalkeepers are shockingly bad when it comes to their saving technique, caught out in identical fashion, while the defence just does not realise the concept of set-piece defending. What Amorim’s assistant is doing, only god knows!
The less said about the strikers the better, both look better as substitutes and an open play goal looks unlikely with this team.
Should Amorim compromise his vision?
Thursday’s loss means the Red Devils are 14th in table and with Newcastle United and Liverpool to come next, the team look primed for a relegation scrap.
Amorim might need to adapt and go back to the drawing room to play to this team’s strengths — using wingers and allowing the captain to spam Hollywood passes to his forwards. The current method is surely weeding out the imposters in the squad but at what cost?
Whether he compromises with his vision remains to be seen but surely the players need to deliver more in terms of intensity. They got outfought and outrun again.
Things will get far worse before they improve. Similar thoughts have been echoed before and fans are wondering what it actually means by far worse. Surely not a relegation fight?
Feature image Naomi Baker 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
