Amorim refuses to blame absences for draw

Ruben Amorim made no excuses for Manchester United‘s latest disappointing performance at Old Trafford as they were stunningly held to a 1-1 draw by winless Wolves.

United missed a clear chance to move into the Premier League’s top four against a side they beat 4-1 away from home earlier this month. Joshua Zirkzee appeared to have United on course for victory with his 27th minute opener, but Ladislav Krejci’s header earned Wolves only their third point of the season.

Wolves had chances to end their long wait for a victory, and the result and manner of the performance will place further scrutiny on Amorim, who has seen his side continually drop points at home this season.

Manchester United drop points again

United held on to beat Newcastle United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day having failed to win their previous three home games. Everton claimed an away win over United in November, while United were held at home by both West Ham and Bournemouth.

The setback against Wolves came with United missing a host of first-team players.

Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt, Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount all missed the game through injury, while Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui are all at the Africa Cup of Nations.

But asked about those absences, Amorim told BBC Match of the Day: “Not using anything as an excuse. We tried to put two strikers in and then conceded from a set piece. Today was not our day.

“We knew it would be a different game to Newcastle. We needed more imagination today to create chances. We struggled in the first half trying to steal the ball. They put a lot of men in the midfield. We tried but the quality was not there. We need to recover to the next one.

“We tried to overload one side but in Premier League you need one v one and you need that and we didn’t have it today.

“We don’t have the guys that play outside – we tried to overload the middle but today was not our day.

“Even against Everton it was three points lost, West Ham was two points lost. Always frustrating. Football is like that. If you focus on the performance, we struggled today.”

Amorim explains Zirkzee sub

Goalscorer Joshua Zirkzee was withdrawn at half-time in an eyebrow-raising substitution as he was replaced by 18-year-old midfielder Jack Fletcher.

Explaining that change, Amorim told Sky Sports: “We were running around trying to get hold of the ball. We were struggling with their midfielders, and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers. We played with three strikers and sometimes that’s not the best thing to attack well.

“This game is over, you cannot change the result of this one but you can move on and go to the next one.”