Isn’t it so typical of Manchester United’s season – and of Ruben Amorim’s entire tenure, really – that they would lose the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur, of all clubs, in such a deflating fashion?
It was, in a sense, a defeat of historic proportions. Unheard of, statistically.
A jubilant Brennan Johnson scored the only goal in Bilbao, with Tottenham’s only shot on target. No team since records began has mustered fewer attempts on target in a major European final. A return 27 per cent possession and 115 passes was also an all-time low; Manchester United defying the odds in the most self-imposed of losses.
Ruben Amorim’s toothless United have not scored in 270 minutes of football across all competitions now. And despite the manager’s insistence that the better team ended up on the losing side – an under-fire Amorim faces criticism over his tactics and his team selection – the fact remains that Guglielmo Vicario had relatively little to do in the Spurs goal.
Ruben Amorim highlights Guglielmo Vicario after Tottenham beat Manchester United
Amorim was keen to paint Vicario as something of a difference-maker in a terse post-match press conference.
Yet, only second-half substitute Alejandro Garnacho and a stoppage-time Luke Shaw header really tested the speed of Vicario’s reflexes, even if he did also manage to smother a close-range Leny Yoro effort.
That Man United created an ‘XG’ of less than one – despite dominating 74 per cent of the possession and producing 16 shots to Tottenham’s three – speaks volumes, really.
“What I can say is it was clear we were the better team,” Amorim argues, seemingly in self-defence mode already. “But we managed not to score again and [without scoring] is really hard to win football matches.
“But the guys tried everything to win the game. In the future, we will have time to assess everything.
“There were some times [in previous games] that we didn’t create situations. Now is not that time, we are creating situations. If you look at the opportunities we have, it’s different players. It’s not the problem of one guy. We are not scoring goals. The goalkeeper [Vicario] did a great job.
“Of course, I am confident in my players, it’s my job to improve my players and to arrive in January [transfer window] to make a lot of changes was not possible because of all the problems we have to deal with. And then I had to assess the team. The problem is not just one player.”
Vicario heroic as Andre Onana flounders in the Europa League final
In a battle between two poor teams – Man United and Tottenham an almost cartoonish parody of their former selves – Vicario overcame a shaky start on a night where the man at the other end of the pitch surely hammered the final nail into his Red Devils coffin.
Tottenham paid just £17 million to sign Vicario back in 2023. The same summer in which Andre Onana also swapped Italy for England.
Two years on, while the former Empoli glovesman may not be the long-term answer between the sticks at Tottenham, Vicario and Spurs triumphed almost purely by managing to be the slightly less blunder-prone of the two.
Not the better team, per se, but maybe the least bad.
As Man United eye up Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez in pursuit of a more reliable number one, Onana may have joined Rasmus Hojlund, Luke Shaw and Casemiro in sealing his fate with one below-par performance too many in a Man United shirt.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/lGVZTLP