Manchester United’s 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers will be a huge disappointment to Rúben Amorim and the fans.
Manchester United’s win against Newcastle United on Boxing Day gave fans great hope of a promising start to 2026 under Rúben Amorim, but those dreams have come crashing down after a 1-1 draw against the worst team in the Premier League.
Despite missing Amad, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Bryan Mbeumo and Mason Mount, United had to take three points from Wolves’ visit to Old Trafford. But Amorim’s side were nothing short of disgraceful in their 1-1 draw.
Even the goal came through luck. Ayden Heaven won the ball back well to stop a Wolves counterattack before Joshua Zirkzee fired a shot that looked to be an easy save for Jose Sa, until a late deflection forced the ball into the other side of the goal.
Lisandro Martínez claimed United “played well in the first half”, but fans will know it wasn’t anywhere near the level of performance that Amorim has delivered in recent weeks.
Neville SLAMS Amorim’s decision
Amorim chose to go back to a 3-4-2-1 formation against Wolves, following impressive attacking displays in a back four against Bournemouth, Newcastle United and Aston Villa. It was a curious decision, even more so with United’s struggles to break down Rob Edwards’ team.
After the match, Gary Neville slammed Amorim on the Gary Neville Podcast for Sky Sports. He said: “That was the baddest of the bad that. They weren’t just booed off at full-time. The fans waited in the stadium to continue to boo them.
“He doesn’t need to say ‘I haven’t changed because of the media’ because then he’s telling us basically that the media is in his head.
“The reason he’s had to change is because the performance levels with the 3-4-3 have been so poor and the results have been appalling.
“When I see that we go back [to three at the back] after five minutes tonight and I’m thinking, no, Ruben, why have you done that? The manager has to look at that and think, I got that wrong. I complicated it.”
Neville discusses poor substitutions
Amorim chose to replace Zirkzee at halftime, despite the Dutchman scoring United’s only goal, for young Jack Fletcher. While Fletcher wasn’t poor, he was always going to struggle in a different role than his other senior appearances, while the rest of the team were underperforming. The decision to replace Ayden Heaven with Leny Yoro was also a curious one.
When asked about the changes, Neville said: “They made Manchester United worse. Every single substitution was bizarre.
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“If Zirkzee wasn’t injured and that was a tactical substitution, it was a really poor one. Zirkzee isn’t Eric Cantona, by any stretch of the imagination, but he needed to be out there for physicality, for presence, for experience.
“And he’d scored. You couldn’t take him off. So I’m hoping he’s injured. I’m hoping he’s injured for Ruben Amorim.”
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