Ruben Amorim urged to clamp down on ‘frustrating’ United trio who ‘do nothing’ all game

Stretty News

·17 February 2025

Ruben Amorim urged to clamp down on ‘frustrating’ United trio who ‘do nothing’ all game

Enduring nothing short of relegation form since succeeding Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, Ruben Amorim has a mammoth task on his hands to try and oversee a respectable end to the season at Old Trafford.

Last night’s narrow defeat to Tottenham Hotspur saw the Reds drop down to 15th-placed in the table – eight points adrift of Brighton and Hove Albion, who currently occupy 10th.

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As such, the prospect of sealing a late top-half finish is now slipping further out of Amorim’s grasp with every passing game, and with fixtures against an in-form Everton and title-chasing Arsenal on the horizon, you can only question how the rankings will look come the March international break.

When reacting to Sunday’s affairs in North London, Michael Owen cherry-picked three players for criticism after their shoddy attempts to keep Spurs at bay, with James Maddison breaking the deadlock inside just 15 minutes.

Amorim has three players getting away with murder at the back

Next up for Amorim is United’s final trip to Goodison Park to face Everton. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

“What frustrates me more than anything about the Manchester United team is that those centre-halves (Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui) do nothing during the game,” said the ex-Red on Premier League Productions, as cited by the Metro.

“They hardly pick up any players at all, yet when you ask them to do one job – stop the guy who’s shooting – they’re sleeping at that as well.

“We’ve seen so many clips in the first half when there’s nobody to pick up. There are three of them literally doing nothing. They won’t push in, they won’t go and mark anybody, they just sit there.”

“It’s the easiest position on the pitch in theory because they’re asked to do nothing,” Owen continued. “The manager plays so many defenders, and none of them are picking anyone up.

“The midfield for Manchester United has to be the hardest place to play in the Premier League, and the defence should be the easiest because they literally mark no one, ever. They sit there doing nothing, and everyone else is outnumbered all over the pitch.”

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Ruben Amorim urged to clamp down on ‘frustrating’ United trio who ‘do nothing’ all game | OneFootball