Sports
Gary Neville Slams Ruben Amorim’s ‘Bizarre’ Joshua Zirkzee Decision
Ruben Amorim has elaborated on why he decided to bring Joshua Zirkzee off at half-time during Manchester United’s 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night. But his explanation has left Gary Neville frustrated.
After a slow start to the game, the Red Devils eventually took the lead through Zirkzee, whose effort deflected off a defender and past goalkeeper Jose Sa. However, the visitors found a deserved equaliser before half-time, as Ladislav Krejci headed home a corner before both teams regrouped at the interval.
Many supporters would have expected United to go for it in the second half, especially as they were playing the bottom side in the Premier League. But those in attendance were left baffled as the teams emerged for the second 45 minutes, as goalscorer Zirkzee had been brought off for midfielder Jack Fletcher.
Amorim Explains Decision to Bring Zirkzee Off
There was bewilderment in Old Trafford and on the gantry over the substitution as Neville couldn’t believe that Amorim had taken off an attacker with the teams locked in a stalemate. The former England international, who was on commentary duty for Sky Sports, said: “I’m not sure what happened with Zirkzee. If he’s not injured, it’s a bizarre substitution to make.”
The Dutchman had seemingly angered his manager by not dropping deeper in the early stages of the match, but Amorim would have been delighted when he popped up with a much-needed goal. The decision to take him off, though, was not related to fitness, but to tactics, as the head coach explained the half-time substitution in his post-match press conference.
He said: “We were struggling with their midfielders, and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers. We played with three strikers, sometimes that’s not the best thing to attack well.
“We were running around trying to get hold of the ball.”
Neville Fumes Over Amorim’s Zirkzee Explanation
However, the decision to bring Zirkzee off hasn’t gone down well with Neville, who reacted to the manager’s comments on the Gary Neville Podcast after the game. He said: “No, that’s not right. That’s a really bad one.
“I don’t need to say any more than that. That should not have happened.
“To play Zirkzee in that right channel in itself is not acceptable because we’ve seen him in that right channel and left channel before – he doesn’t play well, it’s not fair on him. It’d be like playing me in midfield and saying ‘Go on Gary, go do us a job.’ It’s just never going to work.
“Then to not put him off the front with Sesko and just put Dorgu to the right and Cunha to the left and sort of say ‘let’s just drop the game that we’re playing here’ – honestly I think that’s a really, really poor decision.
“People will say, ‘What right have you got to talk about being a manager?’ I’ve watched 3000 games here, I know what right and wrong looks like on this pitch. And that’s not right.”
