Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United were totally outclassed by Newcastle United in the Premier League.
Manchester United lost 4-1 to Newcastle on Sunday afternoon which extended the winless streak to four matches across all competitions.
There is nothing left to play for domestically, but a result on Sunday would have been a confidence booster for Ruben Amorim’s side before Thursday’s crucial Europa League tie against Lyon.
However, there were very few positives. Altay Bayindir failed to take his opportunity after Andre Onana was dropped and Bruno Fernandes grew frustrated at his teammates.
Ultimately, United had to accept that they were second best on Tyneside, and one tactical instruction from Amorim completely stunned Alan Shearer.
Alan Shearer stunned by Ruben Amorim’s tactics vs Newcastle
Amorim made five changes to his starting lineup for the trip to Newcastle, with a handful of key starters rested for Thursday’s clash.
There have been signs of progress in United’s performances recently, but Sunday’s defeat felt like a big setback, especially as the Red Devils looked toothless going forward and fragile in defence.
Speaking about the match on The Rest is Football, Newcastle legend Shearer questioned Amorim’s decision to try and pass out from the back.
“What I find interesting is that there’s a fascination in the Premier League, and in football, that you have to play out from the back.
“But they’re basically not very good at playing out from the back and they have a goalkeeper who is not very good at playing out from the back.
“Yet they insist on doing it. When you are doing that at St James’ Park, with Newcastle’s press and how much energy they’ve got and how strong they are, if you are not very good at it then Newcastle are going to pick you up and identify your weakness.
“That’s exactly what they did, particularly in the second half with the way they pressed and forced errors. But they just kept doing it, and I’m thinking – a manager’s job is to make players and a team better.
“Sometimes he’s asking a lot of those Man United players to do something they can’t do.”
Ruben Amorim is having to adapt to poor players
Since arriving in England, Amorim has made it very clear that he was hired to implement a clear style of play and that he has no plans to change.
That has been a problem for too many years at Old Trafford, with the likes of Erik ten Hag scrapping his style to try and adapt to the players available.
Amorim has stubbornly stuck to his philosophy and will continue to do so, but he is equally aware that he needs results so he has had to make sacrifices.
Bayindir struggled in possession against Newcastle, and the stats show that he went long a lot more often than Shearer suggests.
| Passes completed | 49% (28/57) |
| Long passes completed | 27% (10/37) |
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Bayindir actually attempted 37 long passes against Newcastle, while his opposite number Nick Pope only attempted seven.
Amorim is aware of United’s weaknesses, but he simply doesn’t have enough quality in his squad to fix the issues.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/g4NEy8q