After positive results at the Etihad Stadium, Anfield and the Emirates, Ruben Amorim’s challenge to his players was to show, as stated in his match programme notes, that same level of “fight, heart and hunger… bravery and aggression” in every game, no matter the opponent.
Thursday was an opportunity to prove Manchester United could replicate their most recent impressive performances on a consistent basis and handle the expectation of a home crowd. These are the basics and the reality facing this side right now.
What better test then than bottom of the league Southampton, who headed into the game in woeful form — just one win in 20 matches with a goal difference of -32.
But United’s first-half performance was way below par. The timing of their pressing was off because of their hesitancy to press high. That then triggered a knock-on effect with midfielders Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo late to apply pressure. Mateus Fernandes tore through the vacated spaces, Southampton targeted Amad’s defensive vulnerabilities at right wing-back while Leny Yoro was left exposed against Kamaldeen Sulemana, who tormented the Frenchman down United’s right.
No wonder their defence were hesitant to push up which in turn created nervousness out of possession. Amorim has said he wanted his players to run like “mad dogs” but his players’ aggression was misplaced, either overcommitting or stepping out at the wrong time, which left them looking less like a cohesive hunting pack and more like headless chickens.
(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
But Amorim protected his players by insisting it was not about a lack of effort. “It was a lack of speed and control of the game,” he told TNT after the match.
That is mental speed as well as physical. Amorim’s players are still struggling to make the right decisions at the right time with the head coach constantly gesturing on the touchline to indicate where he wants his players to be. United struggled to form any connection with one another in the final third and had it not been for Andre Onana’s double save, United could have been 2-0 down by half-time. “But when you have one click, one goal, one opportunity you feel the team can control the game better,” Amorim said to TNT Sports.
Enter Amad Diallo… in the 82nd minute. The Ivorian’s drive into the box and arrowed shot for the equaliser, right-footed volley from Christian Eriksen’s scooped pass to put United ahead, and predatory instincts to hunt down Taylor Harwood-Bellis to complete a hat-trick in 12 minutes was exactly the type of hunger his head coach is looking for.
“I have to push, go forward and be more aggressive in the final third and have the quality to score,” Amad said after the game. “When I’m on the pitch, I have to play freely.”
That freedom is evident in his all-round attacking performance. As shown below, his creativity is crucial to United’s success with the highest number of carries and progressive carries of any United player in the game. As well as his three goals, he also registered the highest expected assists (xA), the likelihood that a given pass will become a goal assist.
Only Mohamed Salah (20) and Alexander Isak (17) have more Premier League goal involvements since the start of November than Amad (10, five goals and five assists).
“(It is) maybe one of the best weeks in my life,” Amad, who signed a new five-and-a-half-year deal just over a week ago, told TNT after the game. “We believed until the end and are happy to win.”
Amad embodies the traits Amorim wants from his team. Despite playing in a more unsuited role at wing-back given his defensive weaknesses, the 22-year-old is aware of the effort needed. He is a grafter as shown in the sixth minute when he slid in to win the ball on the byline to avoid conceding a corner, and in the 92nd minute when he was alert to Harwood-Bellis’ heavy touch. He is, in his words, “ready to fight to help this club”.
“Ohh Amad Diallo” rang round Old Trafford, Joshua Zirkzee lifted his smaller team-mate off the floor before Amad tucked the ball underneath his arm, ready to take home. Just as he did in the 80th and 90th minutes against Liverpool and City respectively, Amad had saved United.
But Amorim was cautious to heap praise on the 22-year-old’s shoulders. “You have to be careful with the young kids,” he said. “He has a lot to improve. This game is in the past. We have to prepare for the future. He has to rest, eat good food, Sunday (against Brighton), we need him again.”
Although Amorim did not fault his team’s effort, there are still major concerns about their application. Had it not been for individual talent, United would have been looking at their fourth consecutive home defeat and Amorim’s conversation with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the game may have been a lot trickier.
“Today, the win was more important,” Amorim said. “I know the fans want to see better football than this. To win time, we need to win games. We managed to do that today, not in good fashion, but we managed to win.”
Perhaps in weeks to come we will look back on this result as a key turning point, psychologically more than anything, but Amorim is still caught trying to fix the engine of a stuttering plane in mid-flight.
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
