Ruben Amorim blamed for Manchester United decision that fans “despise” vs Crystal Palace

Ruben Amorim has been blamed for one key decision in Manchester United’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.

Manchester United fell to a 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon following a lackluster performance from Ruben Amorim’s side.

The Portuguese coach chose not to start a natural striker, leaving Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee on the bench.

Instead, Kobbie Mainoo was deployed as a false nine and made an early impact by hitting the post, but his influence diminished as the game progressed.

United started strongly, but Palace remained dangerous on the counterattack and eventually took advantage in the second half.

Jean-Philippe Mateta struck twice after the break, equaling Højlund’s Premier League goal tally this season, to seal the win for the visitors.

Amorim blamed for decision vs Palace

Despite the questionable decision to not start a recognised striker, it was another line-up call from Amorim which fans have disagreed with.

The United boss decided to start Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot as the wingbacks once again in this game.

Every United fan has called for at least one more attacking-minded player to operate in those positions and the team seem to look better when that happens.

However, Amorim used the two fullbacks against Palace and neither of them impressed. Dalot was particularly poor.

It is a decision that one fan claimed to “despise”, especially when playing at Old Trafford, with many other supporters agreeing with the assessment.

Amorim has no excuses for wingback decisions after Dorgu signing

Amorim is quite clearly an intelligent coach and we’ve seen how his wingbacks operated at Sporting, where they were clear offensive threats.

It seems like he is using Dalot and Mazraoui for a few reasons, partly to try and remain stronger defensively as a team.

The lack of options in the front three is also something that Amorim probably considers when he’s making his team selections, but it is something clearly impacting the team negatively.

Patrick Dorgu coming into the club should give the United boss no excuses to not have an offensive-minded player on one of the wings, with Amad also solid there.

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Wednesday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.