RUBEN AMORIM TACTICS FAIL: MAN UTD SPAM CROSSES AS EVERTON TEAMMATES FIGHT
Man United's Ruben Amorim was furious as his side lost 1-0 to 10-man Everton. Despite Idrissa Gueye's red card for slapping teammate Michael Keane, United's predictable, cross-heavy attack failed to break down a resolute Everton defence.
Idrissa Gana Gueye wasn't the only one losing it at Old Trafford on Monday night.
On the sidelines, near where Gueye slapped his teammate Michael Keane, Ruben Amorim was getting angrier as Manchester United lost 1-0 to Everton.
Even though Everton was down to 10 players, they looked like they had the advantage as United struggled on a chilly Monday night in Manchester.
Amorim used his usual five-defender formation against Everton, with Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, and Luke Shaw in the back three, and Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu as wing-backs.
Instead of stretching Everton's defence, they kept sending hopeful crosses into the crowded penalty area, which the undermanned visitors defended surprisingly well.
Gary Neville, commenting for Sky Sports, criticised Amorim's plans: How many United players are good at headers? No one in the box can win those. Mbeumo needs to be further up front, not out wide. They should be attacking like crazy, with quick, high-tempo passes from side to side, getting into wide positions, sending crosses in, and getting players into the box. But United's attack is too slow.
United's constant crossing played right into Everton's hands, who handled every attack.
United fans were angry on social media. One fan said, It's crazy how we're spamming crosses for Zirkzee against huge defenders, but when Sesko is playing, everyone wants to shoot.
Another wrote, This could go on for three more hours, and we'd still be crossing to Tarkowski and Keane while losing 0-1. A third, Amorim, this is on you!
Someone else added, Surely the coach should have changed the plan when the other team was down a man. Amorim just stood there and did nothing!
The game's most talked-about moment didn't involve a United player. Gueye lost his cool, both literally and figuratively.
Just after ten minutes, following a United attack where Bruno Fernandes came close to scoring, Gueye and Michael Keane argued.
Keane and Gueye went head-to-head, and the Senegalese midfielder was seen raising his hand and striking his teammate's face. Gary Neville commented, He has snapped! He has slapped his own teammate! It wasn't much of a hit, though. Jordan Pickford stepped in to separate Gueye from Keane.
This reminded people of the incident between Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer back in 2005.
EX-CAPTAIN NEVILLE CLAIMS SUBSTITUTIONS MADE MANCHESTER UNITED "WORSE" AGAINST WOLVES
Gary Neville slams Ruben Amorim’s "weird" substitutions and tactical shifts after Manchester United's 1-1 draw with bottom-side Wolves.
Gary Neville said that the performance of Manchester United in their match against winless Wolves was ‘the baddest of the bad.’
United would have moved fourth in the league with a win at Old Trafford last night, although Wolves, who had two points in 18 games before kickoff, ended their record of 11 straight losses with a 1-1 draw.
Amorim’s team had been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by a League Two team, Grimsby, in August, but Neville was convinced that United had hit rock bottom in a game that could have been even more one-sided were it not for two important saves by Senne Lammens.
“That was the baddest of the bad," the former United captain declared on the Gary Neville podcast.
“They weren’t just booed off at the final whistle. The fans waited in the stadium to continue to boo them. They’ve gone backwards.”
United had won at Newcastle 1-0 on Boxing Day, despite being plagued by an injury list that already lacked skipper Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, and Matthijs de Ligt, as well as three players on African Cup of Nations duty.
But they remained flat right from the first whistle, and the header by Ladislav Krejci just before the half bottled Joshua Zirkzee's deflected shot.
Amorim’s formation choice of 3-4-3 was brought into focus once more as the Portuguese opted to go back to his preferred tactic of four at the back against Newcastle.
“This isn’t right. I’ve watched enough of United over the last five or six weeks to know what looks right and what isn’t right,” Neville had declared 20 minutes into his commentary on Sky Sports.
“Because, when I see that we go back (to three at the back) after five minutes tonight, I’m thinking, no, Ruben, why have you done that?
"The manager has to look at that and think, I got that wrong. I complicated it."
However, Amorim decided to substitute Zirkzee at halftime and brought on an 18-year-old Jack Fletcher, who made his third appearance at the senior level.
Regarding substitutions made by Amorim, Neville further added, “They made Manchester United worse. Every single substitution was ridiculous.”
‘If Zirkzee was injured, and it was a tactical substitution, that was a very poor one.’ But Zirkzee isn't Eric Cantona, not by a long shot, and he had to get out there for physicality, for presence, for experience.”
SEE LISANDRO MARTINEZ’S FURIOUS REACTION AFTER MAN UTD’S SHOCK WOLVES DRAW
Lisandro Martinez demands more after Man Utd’s 1-1 draw with bottom-placed Wolves. United ended 2025 sixth in the Premier League.
Stand-in captain Lisandro Martinez was mad that Manchester United dropped points against Wolves, who are at the bottom of the league.
United came into the last game of 2025 after a good win against Newcastle on Boxing Day and were expected to easily beat Wolves.
Joshua Zirkzee scored first for United, but they didn't take their chances. Ladislav Krejci's header tied the game for Wolves, 1-1.
It was only their third point in 19 games, and it stopped their 11-game losing streak. United fans booed at the end of the game.
When Martinez was asked if it felt like a disappointing point, he said, 100 percent.
We are very disappointed. We can't keep drawing or losing points at home. We have to win.
We want to be at the top, competing with the best.
We can't drop points in games like this. We just have to accept it and be hungry for the next game.
Martinez was captain again because Bruno Fernandes is still recovering from an injury.
When United coach Ruben Amorim was asked about injured players for the game against Leeds on Sunday, he didn't give much away. Leeds are really wanting to beat United for the first time since 2010.
Martinez said to MUTV, You can either make excuses, or you can be strong and say, 'We're dropping points, so we need to go for the next one and show what we can do.'
We need to work together and do the easy things to get the three points.
United is in sixth place in the league at the end of 2025, only two points behind Liverpool for the last Champions League spot. Liverpool has a game in hand.
They could be in a better position if they had been better in both boxes. Leeds has been playing well lately, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin doing great up front.
Martinez added, It's about us. I don't like to think about other teams.
I'm thinking about what we can do to get better as a team every day, and we have to learn from this game.