Since he walked through the door in Manchester United, Ruben Amorim has been lacking of time to work with his players on the Training Pitch. How ironic that a free week at Carrington, the head coach of United seems to have driven into the ground.
What the hell did they do to lose so many men in such a short time?
When Amorim spoke to us on the training field on Friday before the 12th defeat of a miserable Premier League season in Tottenham and admitted that it had been a bad few days, none of us realized how bad.
Amad Diallo probably ended up before the season with damage to the single figament, Kobbie Mainoo for about six weeks with a serious muscle tribe, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer ruled the Spurs match with injury and Christian Eriksen and Leny Yoro due to illness.
Given that United was already without Lisandro Martinez, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, Jonny Evans and Back-up goalkeepers Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton, it cost the total number of absences up to 12. Maybe a soft game of keepyuppy will be sufficient.
Amorim is not the first United manager who realizes that this United Squad is not robust enough to play the way he wants. Just like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag for him, the 40-year-old has learned the hard way that these players are not conditioned to work with high intensity.
The result is again a smooth injuries, just when Amorim hoped he will get bodies back for the last third of the season.
The other consequence was that United arrived in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a team that was resolved with teenagers.
Of the nine replacements on the couch, eight had never played before the first team. Sat next to veteran Victor Lindelof were Academy players Elyh Harrison, Harry Amass, Sekou Kone, Tyler Fredricson, Chido Obi, Jack Fletcher and Jack Moorhouse, Plus the 18-year-old Ayden Heaven who was signed from Arsenal in January.
In the end, Amorim only used OBI as an injury replacement for Casemiro, in contrast to Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou who was able to send five experienced players from the bank.
It was again a proud day for a youth system that produced so many clear talents for United, but also another indictment against how the club is run.
By allowing Marcus Rashford and Antony to go on loan in January, United was wide open for the type of injury that the best scorer Diallo ruled for the rest of the season.
Amorim confirmed the dismissal of Ivory Coast International and ran through the training camp from hell and said: 'Amad was alone, his foot was stuck in the grass, Ugarte was a kick. Toby and Kobbie felt something during training. Some players felt illness in training.
'We lost so many players in a week. Sometimes we have a moment when everything goes wrong.
“It's what it is. We have the children. It is the most difficult competition in the world and I try to be careful with them, but they will play.
'We want to restore the players, I think we can recover some players for the next game. We must be together to end the season and start again. '
Postecoglou has passed more this season than his honest share of injury problems, so forgive him that he is not sympathetic to Amorim after the welcome of five players here.
“Welcome to my world,” he smiled. 'That was for one competition, do it for two months now. I looked in my office and I don't see any sympathy cards. '
With broad men suddenly scarce, Amorim was forced to play Joshua Zirkzee on the right and, to be honest, the Dutchman was the best of a bad group.
But he and Rasmus Hojlund have no longer scored in the Premier League since the first week of December, and United again missed creativity and trust for the goal when they had a blank blank for the 10th time this season.
Their best moment came during a flurry of efforts in the 10th minute when Guglielmo Vicario saved from Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho and Ben Davies De Lijn van Diogo Dalot. Garnacho also lifted a shot over the bar with only vicario to beat.
Casemiro played in the absence of Mainoo, Ugarte, Eriksen and Collyer, and looked as sharp as you would expect from a 32-year-old who made his first start since December 30.
Spurs was able to cut him and Bruno Fernandes much too easy, and the Brazilian spent more than half of the game on a booking for his awkward challenge on son Heung-Min.
There were more problems in the defense where Matthijs de Ligt played from position on the left. “It's not fun if you lose five players in one week, but that is part of football,” said De Ligt.
'We can talk about the personal problems, the injuries, but Tottenham has the same problems. If you lose, it's never enough. I believe you have to earn fortune – apparently we don't earn it at the moment. '
After already qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League, United will not be involved in the play-offs on Thursday.
It means that Amorim will have a clear week to work with his players, but you have to wonder if that is a blessing or a curse.
Comments