Joshua Zirkzee started and scored in the first-half of Manchester United’s Premier League draw against Wolves to leave many questioning Ruben Amorim’s decision
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has explained why Joshua Zirkzee was substituted at half-time in Tuesday night’s disappointing Premier League draw against Wolves. The striker had put United ahead with a deflected effort before the visitors levelled in injury time.
Zirkzee came into the starting line-up in place of Mason Mount following the Boxing Day win over Newcastle United. Mount missed the game against Wolves after picking up a “small” injury.
After half-time, Zirkzee did not come back out with his teammates and was replaced by academy star Jack Fletcher. United dropped points against the Premier League’s bottom team after Patrick Dorgu had a goal disallowed and Benjamin Sesko came close.
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As the game’s final moments played out, Gary Neville questioned the decision to take off Zirkzee at half-time. “It’s going to be a painful aftermath for Ruben Amorim, he is going to get serious questions in his press conference,” he said on Sky Sports.
“Point toward injuries, AFCON, but I think every team is in a similar situation. I am not quite sure what happened with him (Zirkzee). If he was injured, fair enough, if he wasn’t, it’s a bizarre substitution to make.”
Following another disappointing evening at Old Trafford, Amorim was asked why the Netherlands international was taken off. Surprisingly, the United boss didn’t mention any sign of a potential injury.
“We were running around and trying to recover the ball,” he explained. “They overload with a lot of midfielders and we were struggling with that. Sometimes you can attack better with less strikers. We played with three strikers. Cunha, Josh and Ben are three strikers and sometimes it’s not the best time to attack well.”
Zirkzee put the home side in front after a nice turn on the edge of the box and a stroke of luck through a deflection in the 27th minute. However, Wolves levelled shortly before half-time through a Ladislav Krejci header and survived a mini scare when Dorgu’s late goal was chalked off to claim a well-earned point.
Amorim laid the blame for the disappointing result on United’s lack of creativity, with Wolves comfortable over the course of the match and deserving of a share of the spoils.
Adding on the draw, the United boss said: “We struggled in the game. We had a lack of creation. We knew it would be a different game compared to Newcastle.
“We had a different energy during the game, also. If you look at the 90 minutes, we had our chances, but the fluidity that we had, especially offensively, wasn’t there because there is a lack of connections in this moment.
“It’s a completely different game [to Newcastle]. We had more men behind the ball and when you do, you have to work harder to get the ball, to get imagination.
“We lacked that quality today. We didn’t play well and when you don’t play well with the ball, you struggle without the ball. We need to recover and go to the next one.”
The result leaves United in sixth place, two points behind Liverpool in fourth, with one more game played and a staggering 15 points away from table toppers Arsenal.
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