Manchester United -boss Ruben Amorim has explained his decision to play defender Harry Maguire as an improvised Vooruit in the last moments of the defeat against Nottingham Forest.
United suffered a 1-0 defeat against the third placed forest on the city, thanks to the first half of Anthony Elanga on his earlier side, but came close to the equal by Magire with almost the last kick of the game.
The replacement climbed from the bank in the 88th minute and put his efforts for the goal, only to see it disappearing from the line by Murillo to go into the game.
“At the end of the game, when the opponent protects the box, they are comfortable,” Amorim said in his press conference after the game.
“We can reach the last third year, but we have to put the ball in the box because it is difficult to make the combinations. Harry Maguire, when he attacks set pieces, is perhaps the best player in the team.
“You are not a defender in the box, you are a striker. Put a man who is really good to score the goal.”
United had a total of 23 shots in the evening, six of them were on goal, but forest goalkeeper Matz Sels could not call in any form of meaningful action until he was defeated by the efforts of Maguire, to be saved by the timely boot of teammate Murillo.
When demanding United's struggles for the goal, Amorim continued: “That is clear. We have created some opportunities, but we could create more with the possession we had.
“We have often reached the last third, but we have to be better. It is important to score goals and we have a lack of goals.
“We put Forest where they wanted to be. They have fast players in transitions, we pushed ahead, but in the last third we were not good enough.”
Man Utd Strikers flatter to mislead
Sky Sports' Lewis Jones:
Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund remain a hot topic of debate for Manchester United after the couple was flattered to cheat their output again in the 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest.
Zirkzee played 78 minutes in the city and did not succeed in having a shot, to register in the forest fine or to create a single chance for his teammates. The game seemed to pass him as the usual protagonists for United in terms of the happening in Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho, the leadership led that front.
Zirkzee has now been in the Premier League without a goal since December 1.
That is 17 performances ago.
Hojlund jumped during the break of the bank and managed to get at least one shot in his cameo, but that was as good as it got in another tame version.
Both Zirkzee and Hojlund just seem to have problems getting at the end of things. There is currently not much wrong with the construction of United, but there are such small striking instincts or even what looks like a wish to make a difference in the pair's box.
That was perfectly illustrated by Harry Maguire, who was pushed at 88 minutes in the front as an emergency centers. At that time – a total of eight minutes – Maguire had three shots, six touches in the opposition box and placed an expected target figure of 0.59. Amazingly, he collected more expected goals in those eight minutes than Hojlund in his last 15 performances.
When Maguire proves a threat in your position in just eight minutes, it starts to be embarrassing for the two failed United Center-Forwards.
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