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TACTICAL SHIFT: RUBEN AMORIM'S BOLD CHANGES FUEL UNITED'S SELHURST PARK TURNAROUND
After a dreadful first half at Selhurst Park, Ruben Amorim's half-time team talk and bold substitutions spurred Man Utd to a vital 2-1 comeback win over Crystal Palace, stopping the 'rot' in November.
Ruben Amorim rushed to the Selhurst Park dressing room at halftime, with Manchester United down 1-0 after a poor first half. Whatever he said at halftime seemed to spark a change.
After a shaky November threatened to undo October's progress, United fought back to defeat a tired Crystal Palace. In what is always a long season, this victory was crucial to stop the slump, especially after a worrisome first-half showing in Croydon.
Before this game, United had won only once in their last 11 Premier League away matches—that was against Liverpool at Anfield last month. Amorim mentioned in the pre-match press talk that he wasn't sure why his team struggled away from home, but he emphasized that his players needed to close out games better.
Amorim left Patrick Dorgu out of the starting eleven, admitting he saw anxiety from the defender when he had the ball. Diogo Dalot took his place, but even Dalot hasn't been convincing at left wing-back this season.
Shea Lacey, 18, was the only attacking player on the bench. Kobbie Mainoo has played as a No. 10 at times, but Amorim has said he sees him mainly as a defensive midfielder. Before the game, only Arsenal (with six) had allowed fewer goals than Palace (nine) in the Premier League this season, and United had been toothless in attack against Everton earlier in the week.
Still, United had no excuse for not attacking on Sunday. Palace played against Strasbourg in France on Thursday, giving them just two days to prepare, unlike United's five days at Carrington. So, United came to Selhurst Park with a slight advantage.
Bryan Mbeumo patted Amad on the back as they headed back to the locker room before kickoff. Amad assisted Mbeumo against both Liverpool and Tottenham, making their link-up seem like a key factor again in this game. Though the pair were not at their best, United still clinched a win.
Dalot made a bigger impact in the first 30 seconds than Dorgu had in 58 minutes against Everton, launching a long throw into the box, but Casemiro failed to score from it.
The away fans sang '12 Days of Cantona' for two clear reasons: December was approaching fast, and the stadium was the site of Cantona’s infamous kung fu kick.
Amorim looked annoyed as Palace started creating chances. He paced the sideline, and the fourth official reminded him to stay in his coaching box. Soon after, Mbeumo got a yellow card for throwing the ball down in frustration.
Adam Wharton fired a shot right at Senne Lammens from just outside the box. Then Jean-Philippe Mateta missed an easy chance after Yoro’s mistake, and Yoro later blocked Yeremy Pino's shot. Yoro managed to recover after his earlier error that led to Mateta's opportunity.
Mateta kept causing trouble. He physically dominated Matthijs de Ligt and forced another mistake from Yoro, who fouled him unnecessarily in the box, giving away a clear penalty.
Mateta scored the penalty, but it was called back for a double touch. The rule that allows a retake after a failed penalty needs to be reconsidered. Anyway, Mateta made the second penalty.
"Boom, boom, Mateta's in the room" was chanted to the tune of the Vengaboys song twice in a row. This should have pushed United to respond strongly, but instead, they walked slowly off the field at halftime. Amad and Mbeumo weren't playing well, and United often struggle when those two don't perform.
Luke Shaw shook his head as the halftime whistle blew. Shaw, who has been at United for 11 years and was playing his 300th game for the club, played under five permanent managers during his time at Old Trafford. He might have been close to playing for another if United hadn't managed to turn things around. At least there won't be any big investigation on Monday morning.
Amorim made two halftime subs, and they paid off. Dalot played great, and Mason Mount scored a fantastic goal to put United up 2-1. It was a bold choice for Amorim to keep playing Joshua Zirkzee, but he proved right when the Dutchman scored a nice half-volley to bring the score level.
Zirkzee's shot had to be powerful to get past Dean Henderson—and it was. Since arriving from Bologna, Zirkzee hasn't always looked like a top striker, but if he can score more goals like that for United, he'll do just fine.
The Everton game was awful, and Amorim absolutely had to find a solution; in this game, he did.
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.
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