“That’s on him…” Jamie Carragher stunned by Rúben Amorim decision during Manchester United loss vs Newcastle

Jamie Carragher has admitted that he was stunned by two decisions Rúben Amorim chose to make during Manchester United’s 2-0 loss against Newcastle United.

Manchester United suffered yet another humbling defeat as Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United secured a convincing 2-0 victory at Old Trafford on Monday evening, leaving Rúben Amorim’s men with another loss.

With Joshua Zirkzee deployed as an attacking midfielder in the absence of suspended duo Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte, United aimed to take the initiative early on. However, their plans quickly unravelled when Alexander Isak headed Newcastle into the lead just four minutes into the match.

Joelinton doubled the advantage 20 minutes later, netting a second header for the visitors. In response, Amorim made an early tactical adjustment, substituting Zirkzee for Kobbie Mainoo after only 33 minutes.

The second half saw United approach the game with greater urgency, finally carving out some promising opportunities. Harry Maguire came closest to scoring when his powerful header struck the post, but the home side’s efforts were ultimately in vain.

Newcastle’s disciplined defense held firm, preserving their clean sheet and sealing a vital win in the final Premier League match of 2024.

Carragher stunned at two decisions made by Amorim

During half-time, former Premier League centre-back Jamie Carragher admitted that he was stunned at Amorim’s choice to start Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in midfield, explaining that the pair cannot play together.

“We can look about certain players on the pitch, Gary [Neville] mentioned, Casemiro and Eriksen. We were speaking about that on this show 18 months ago,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “That’s on the manager.

“These players can’t run, we know that. That is on the manager for putting those two players in that position, in this system, which has a major flaw in it, which he highlighted in the first game against Ipswich, when both of these players played in the centre of the pitch.

“The positions either side of the two centre midfield players are huge, and these two players can’t cover it. It’s not their fault. They’ve been put in a position that they shouldn’t have been by the manager.”

Hard for both players to leave United in January

As far as transfers out of United go, Eriksen and Casemiro are right at the top of the list of those who should be shipped out of Old Trafford.

While Eriksen is out of contract in June 2025 and Casemiro is receiving a lot of reported interest from Saudi Arabia, it will be hard for United to let both players go in the upcoming January window.

With the club strapped for cash, both players leaving would mean United must bring in replacements, which is almost impossible in January due to a lack of funds as well as a lack of opportunities.

Casemiro and Eriksen cannot play together in the middle of the park, but Amorim may have to keep them until the summer as he simply does not have a choice otherwise.

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