Man Utd were rotten v Bournemouth but there were enough genuine thwackings elsewhere to keep them down to just one man in the worst XI.

Tottenham are obviously well represented but Ipswich’s lack of attacking quality without Liam Delap was exposed.

GOALKEEPER: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
Not directly responsible for any of Arsenal’s five goals but if you ship five from six shots on target then you are going to find yourself in the worst team of the weekend. Quite how Danny Ward evaded this fate is a mystery.

RIGHT-BACK: James Justin (Leicester City)
Was given the E for Error by Opta after a failure in communication with Danny Ward for Wolves’ second goal but was pretty rotten for all of the 52 minutes he stayed on the pitch, completing only 57.7% of his passes.

CENTRE-BACK: Archie Gray (Tottenham)
He’s 18, he’s playing out of position and he is playing alongside the erratic Radu Dragusin. But Gray was given the E by Opta for one of Liverpool’s six goals, though nobody watching would blame him for the clown show.

CENTRE-BACK: Noussair Mazraoui (Manchester United)
Made a ridiculous braindead challenge to concede a penalty against Bournemouth, though he might reasonably argue that he had been shifted wide when he committed that atrocity. United are lucky to have only one representative on this list, saved by the thwackings suffered elsewhere.

LEFT-BACK Keane Lewis-Potter (Brentford)
Robbed by Anthony Elanga for Nottingham Forest’s second goal; it was not his first or last heavy touch of the afternoon as the Bees’ lack of a natural left-back continues to cause issues.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Jens Cajuste (Ipswich Town)
Ipswich Town’s best midfielder this season but he called for the ball in the box, got dispossessed by Bruno Guimaraes, and ensured the game was over by half-time.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Yves Bissouma (Tottenham)
A poor game all-round as he was entirely outclassed by Liverpool. In truth, Dragusin and Pedro Porro were more culpable than him or Gray, but Bissouma did nothing to stem the tide.

RIGHT WING: Wes Burns (Ipswich Town)
When this comes from an Ipswich fan…

Wes burns is the worst footballer the premier has seen by the way. Fucking useless

— Jack (@campoitfc) December 21, 2024

ATTACKING MIDFIELD: Omari Hutchinson (Ipswich Town)
A sobering day for all in blue, with Hutchinson contributing basically nothing in defence or attack before being substituted at half-time to save him for Friday night’s daunting trip to Arsenal.

LEFT WING: Sam Szmodics (Ipswich Town)
See above except he lasted 77 minutes.

STRIKER: Yoane Wissa (Brentford)
Was probably no poorer than those around him in an oddly toothless Brentford attack – shackled expertly by that Forest defence – but picked up a booking along with his one off-target shot.

Lisandro Martinez remarkably believes Man Utd are “playing so well” despite a 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth and explained what the dressing room is “so angry” about.

After a dramatic comeback win over Manchester City last time out in the Premier League, Amorim’s side produced a dismal display as goals from Dean Huijsen, Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo secured a comfortable 3-0 win for the visitors.

Amorim has now won four, drawn one and lost four in a brief United tenure in which the task at hand has been made clear.

But Martinez feels as though he and his teammates are “playing so well” and picked out the one thing they need to work “especially” hard on moving forward.

“I always say in this kind of situation we have to show personality and character,” said the Argentine defender after the loss. “We are playing so well and unfortunately, we couldn’t score today. We have to believe. At this club, we have to win every game and we know that.

“We are so angry with this kind of situation. We have to work on set-pieces especially. I believe a lot in this team and staff. if they don’t score their first goal from set-pieces then it is a totally different game. We missed many chances today. We have to score. We know what we have to do and we have to change quickly.

“We know how big it is at this club. The expectation is very high, it’s a process and you can see we are playing so well but we also concede goals and we have to work on that. I know the fans are impatient with us. We are the only ones who can change it.

“It’s football and we have to accept it. We are 100 per cent confident that we will get success in this club. It’s a process, I don’t want to point the finger at one player. We win together, we lose together. It is a big pressure but we love that. I believe a lot in this group.”

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Amorim claimed the scoreline did not reflect the game and was frustrated by his side’s failure to take chances and poor defending from set-pieces.

“Everybody saw the game. You cannot speak about fair in football because they scored and we didn’t, but we didn’t give anything [away] until the set-pieces and then we were so near [to scoring] the goal,” he said.

“But I think everybody felt a little anxious, not just the players but also the fans. It’s a very difficult moment for our club, you can feel it every game and especially at home. Two goals, like against Tottenham, very quickly, so you want to respond but you cannot do it because you suffer another goal, and then we suffer until the end of the game.

“I felt we created a lot of situations for our opponent [to deal with] but they managed to score and I think that makes the difference.”

He added: “It’s so much easier to pass on an idea when you’re winning and you’re scoring and you’re not conceding. But it’s also a great privilege to be here, so we have to continue now.

“Nothing bad lasts forever and nothing good lasts forever, so we have to continue again and be very strong in our ideas, especially in the bad moments. We will do it and try to win the next game.”

Marcus Rashford could be given a way out of Man Utd at Barcelona if the Red Devils can agree a deal that would see Ansu Fati move in the opposite direction, according to reports.

Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim dropped Rashford and his team-mate Alejandro Garnacho from his squad for their 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Man City in the Manchester Derby eight days ago.

That decision came after a week of speculation that the Red Devils are open to ‘top offers’ for the England international with Man Utd looking to cash in to help Amorim improve his squad.

Garnacho returned to Amorim’s squad for their 4-3 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup in midweek but Rashford was absent again after admitting he was ready for a “new challenge” away from Old Trafford in an interview with journalist Henry Winter.

An even clearer sign was given on Sunday that Rashford’s time at Man Utd is up when Amorim left out the 27-year-old for a third time as the Red Devils lost 3-0 to Bournemouth.

And now reports in Spain claim that Barcelona boss Hansi Flick ‘gives the OK’ for the Catalan giants to use Ansu Fati in a swap deal to sign Rashford from Man Utd.

Barcelona sporting director Deco is ‘working on a swap deal that could shake up the team’ with Flick believing that ‘the Englishman could bring more versatility and effectiveness to the Barca attack’.

Fati, who was on loan at Brighton last season, ‘has not convinced’ Barcelona boss Flick and ‘the irregularity in his performance have put his future in doubt’.

For Barcelona ‘the exchange operation would be ideal to reinforce a key position’ with Rashford possessing the ‘ability to adapt to various positions in attack is one of the reasons why Flick believes he would fit perfectly into his system’.

Man Utd ‘could be the perfect destination’ for Fati to ‘to regain confidence and show his potential’ but ‘negotiations will not be easy’ for Barcelona.

The La Liga side ‘see it as feasible to close a deal before the end of the winter transfer window’ and some at Barcelona are ‘already dreaming of seeing’ Rashford play at the Camp Nou.

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Former Premier League winger Shaun Wright-Phillips insists that Rashford and Garnacho are the two biggest casualties of Amorim’s formation change.

When asked the three players Man Utd should build around, Wright-Phillips said: “Obviously, Bruno. I would say Amad as well because I quite like him, his work rate. The way he wants to play, those two suit those midfield areas. I’m not sure if he knows the rest of his midfield.

“I’d also say Mazraoui. He seems to play a lot, and he seems to play the way Amorim wants to play.

“Other than that, I still think he’s still trying to find out who he likes and who he doesn’t like.

“I think, not because of talent, but Rashford and Garnacho have got a problem because they’re not used to playing that 10 position, both of them are used to being very wide.

“He doesn’t play wide wingers; he plays with wingbacks, and I don’t think either of those two could be a wingback.

“I think they’re going to find it hard to get into Amorim’s team in terms of attacking positions because I don’t think he knows his front two or three yet.

“Amorim has tried Zirkzee and Rasmus, and both are completely different sort of strikers. He messes around with the two number 10s, but I don’t think it is going to work for all of United’s attacking players unless he teaches them how to play that role. I can see Amorim bringing in a few of his own players in the summer or even in January if he can get them.”