One Manchester United player’s importance to Rúben Amorim’s side is obvious following a 4-1 loss against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Manchester United suffered their 14th Premier League defeat of the season on Sunday, as Rúben Amorim’s side were beaten 4-1 by Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
United started brightly, showing early signs of intent, but it was the hosts who opened the scoring after 25 minutes. Alexander Isak picked out Sandro Tonali with a sublime lofted ball, and the Italian made no mistake in giving Newcastle the lead.
Despite Newcastle controlling possession, United found a way back into the game against the run of play. A swift counter-attack saw Alejandro Garnacho calmly slot home the equaliser on 37 minutes, sending the teams into the break level.
However, Amorim’s men were undone just minutes after the restart. Jacob Murphy’s clever cut-back found Harvey Barnes, who restored Newcastle’s lead. Barnes struck again soon after, capitalising on a costly slip from Noussair Mazraoui to make it 3-1.
The scoring was rounded off by Bruno Guimarães with just over ten minutes to go, punishing a poor pass from Altay Bayındır to add a fourth. Despite United’s efforts to respond, they couldn’t find a way back, as Newcastle ran out 4-1 winners.
United fans aghast at Ugarte display vs Newcastle
Manuel Ugarte was selected to start against a strong Newacastle midfield, and United fans were not happy with his display.
Although the Uruguayan international won more duels than anyone else on the field with ten to his name, many fans were unhappy with how he was on the ball.
Ugarte did well prior to Garnacho’s goal but his overall performance was poor, with some pointing out that the player was not picking the accuracy of his passes well enough and leaving his teammates stranded or wrong-footed.
Although he has started United’s last six games for the club, many are calling for the player to be dropped when the club face Lyon on Thursday evening.
Casemiro one of United’s most important players
Back in December and January, it looked as if United were set to offload Casemiro as soon as possible, with the veteran Brazilian almost entirely excluded from Amorim’s first-team selections.
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However, with United now in April, Ugarte’s performance against Newcastle has shown just how important Casemiro has become to Amorim’s team.
Although Ugarte is certainly the more athletic player, Amorim has admitted recently that he has learned how to better use Casemiro’s skills in the system. With the Brazilian certainly better on the ball and better at timing his tackles, he must play over Ugarte.
With a season-defining Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon set to commence at Old Trafford next week, Casemiro must start over Ugarte alongside Fernandes.
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