Manchester United were ruthlessly cast aside by Manchester City in the derby on Sunday.
Heading into the game at the Etihad, Pep Guardiola’s side had lost two on the bounce and had looked vulnerable. Add to this their injury woes, and it was clear that Ruben Amorim had a great chance to lay down a marker.
However, the head coach adopted a safety-first approach and got spanked 3-0. And after the game, he even had the gall to say that the visitors played well and created a lot of chances and were unlucky not to score.
Noussair Mazraoui, who came in for his first start of the new Premier League season, did not agree with the Portuguese’s assessment.
Mazraoui said nothing worked
He clearly told MUTV that that the team struggled to create clear-cut chances and there were hardly any positives to take back to Old Trafford.
“I am feeling bad. Disappointed in myself, in the team, and disappointed for the fans that we couldn’t bring the performance we did lately today.
“If you lose and you play good and you have the chances we created in previous games, you can take some positives. But today was just not good enough.”
Refreshingly honest from the Moroccan, and a departure from his coach’s stubborn stance of repeating the same thing after every loss.
Noussair Mazraoui was clearly emotional, and when pressed further on what actually went wrong, he refused to point fingers and claimed the entire team needed to get their act together.
Refreshingly honest, unlike Amorim
“It is hard to say where specifically it went wrong because you are always full of emotion after the game, so I always try to calm down and try to analyse the game.
“Otherwise, I will just point fingers and often it is not something I point out now. We will analyse it as a team and improve.”
United’s next assignment is another tough one: welcoming Chelsea to the Theatre of Dreams next Saturday. Hopefully, the Red Devils can bounce back.
Amorim is under pressure, and unless the team’s fortunes change soon, there seems to be only one inevitable outcome regarding his future.
Feature image Carl Recine 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
