After Thursday’s Europa League high, Manchester United crashed back down to Earth on Sunday, losing 0-2 to West Ham United in their Premier League game at Old Trafford.
The loss means the Red Devils are currently 16th in the league table, and Sunday’s display showed that most players do not care about these games anymore.
Ruben Amorim has kept saying that the Europa League is the only priority, and while it is true given the stakes, surely a United head coach should not let such a mentality seep in throughout the squad.
Skipper Bruno Fernandes was one of the few who kept trying till the final whistle and after the game, he expressed his disappointment at the team’s league form, claiming the team must try and pick up points in league games irrespective of the May 21 showpiece.
Wrong mentality
“We had two games, we have one more game. We can’t just only focus on the Europa League final, we have to put maximum effort on every game.
“Any points in the Premier League at this moment for us will be massive,” the Portugal international told Sky Sports.
While both goals conceded came from the home side’s mistakes, the lackadaisical attitude of the players was summed up in the first half when despite getting lots of chances to cross the ball, all the players seemed to do was pass the ball backwards.
Even after going down by two goals, most wide players seemed to dread the ball coming to them, preferring to pass on the responsibility to the captain to cross the ball.
The less said about Rasmus Hojlund’s form the better, with the Dane missing an open net while looking like a player who is more suited to playing for a League Two side than the Red Devils.
Shocking attack
Fernandes was far from happy with the attackers as a result. “We created a lot of chances but it’s not enough. We have to put our chances into goals. Today was frustrating because we couldn’t do that.
“We need to be stronger and more eager to score goals and put balls into the box. If you create the chances you have to try and bury them in.
“It’s difficult to explain. Everyone wants to score goals. It’s not been our season to get the goals in. We have to improve in that. We have to be much better. And we have to be more aggressive.”
A game against Chelsea is up next and it will be interesting to see what sort of team Amorim puts out. A lot of players need to perform in that game or should sit on the bench in Bilbao.
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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
