Manchester United slumped to their 12th Premier League defeat of the campaign on Sunday as Tottenham Hotspur completed a league double over the Red Devils thanks to a 1-0 win at their home ground.
Spurs had not won at home in 105 days prior to Sunday and Ruben Amorim’s side gifted them all three points. This was the Portuguese’s eight league defeat in 14 games since taking over from Erik ten Hag.
It was once again a familiar tale both at the back and up front with Andre Onana committing yet another error in goal, palming a relatively weak effort towards James Maddison instead of away from goal.
The former Leicester City star made no mistake and his 13th minute strike proved to be the difference on the day. That was not to say the 20-time English league champions did not have chances of their own.
De Ligt rues finishing
Alejandro Garnacho was guilty of spurning the most gilt-edged one, skying over from 10 yards out with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The Argentine saw two other attempts on goal saved while Rasmus Hojlund looked lost up front. And despite the Dane’s struggles, Amorim did not look to the bench to change things.
Matthijs de Ligt was asked about the defeat by MUTV after the game and the centre-back bluntly claimed that the team was nowhere good enough both defensively and offensively.
“I think in the end, finishing the chances is a big thing in football and we were unlucky we couldn’t finish them today,” he said.
“If you lose, a lot has to improve. We are not where United belongs and if I knew the solution I would have said it and we would win games but a lot needs to improve and we have to look to ourselves to be responsible.
“We have to stick together because if we are out there on our own, we would never get results.”
It has been a recurrent theme throughout the season and with the club languishing in 15th position and with Amad ruled out for the rest of the season, a painful conclusion awaits all fans.
Concerningly, United have now lost as many times in this campaign as they did the last time they got relegated.
Hopefully, the team can pick up some points in the remaining games to stave off the very real threat of relegation and subsequently can focus on the remaining cup games to salvage what has been a poor season.
United conceding too many easy goals
“It is not enough for United. We are not winning enough or scoring enough chances. We are conceding too many goals,” the Dutchman added.
“There are a lot of things we need to improve and hopefully it will get better soon.”
Kobbie Mainoo will also be missing for over a month while both Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer also missed the Spurs game due to injury.
Leny Yoro and Christian Eriksen were sick and hence had to remain at home and United’s bench on Sunday had eight academy products out of nine.
Hopefully, Amorim starts trusting Carrington from now on. They surely cannot play any worse than the underperforming first-team regulars.
Feature image Alex Pantling via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
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
