Staff Takeaways from Manchester United 2-1 loss to Aston Villa.
Pauly: This was your house money game
Every team has their first XI. After that you have a couple of like for like changes on the bench and a few players who can play in a variety of different spots. In theory it creates a simple Plan A and then a if someone gets hurt we have a few options of who we can plug in in that spot as a plan B.
Eventually a key player will get hurt – or be unavailable due to AFCON – and the manager will have to go
to Plan B. Often times, Plan B doesn’t work. Sometimes the player is just too damn important. Other times the replacement is not good. Sometimes plan B is just too many players being given responsibilities that they aren’t good enough to have.
Here’s the thing, most of the time, we know Plan B isn’t going to work. We know a certain player cannot do this job. We wonder if maybe there’s a kid from the academy that can do it? Why not give him a chance?
The thing is, it’s just not that simple. Managers have to manage the human side of things. Players have egos, big contracts, and feelings. They can’t just drop a player to see what an academy kid can do without giving him every last chance. It’s about managing people and making sure everyone in the dressing room stays onside. They have to run them out there one more time, let them fail, and then they can work on finding creative solutions. If the player is unhappy the manager can say he gave them the chance when the opportunity came and the player didn’t take it.
A couple of games from the 2019-20 season come to mind in this situation. Early in the season against Newcastle when United were without Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Victor Lindelof. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn’t turn to any academy players, he tried to make like for like changes and gave his bench players a chance to claim their spots. The performance was horrific and the next game he started to get creative with his solutions. A similar situation happened against Burnley when Marcus Rashford got hurt. Solskjaer again went like for like subs, it didn’t work, and after that he switched to a back three.
That’s where Ruben Amorim found himself on Sunday. Amad and Bryan Mbeumo were off at AFCON. Casemiro was suspended for yellow card accumulation. Kobbie Mainoo picked up a late injury in training. No one wanted to see Manuel Ugarte take the pitch but Amorim didn’t have a choice. He had to give Ugarte the chance to stake his place, even if he didn’t believe that he would. Even if it meant United were going to drop points.
United were facing a team that had won 10 of their last 11 games. They were missing their best players. Not many expected United to win anyway, Amorim was playing with house money.
Not too surprisingly, United lost. Now it’s time for Amorim to come up with creative solutions. Admittedly this just got a lot more difficult with Bruno Fernandes picking up a soft tissue injury that will see him miss a bit of time. Maybe that creates another house money match on Friday against Newcastle – a match that was always going to cause United problems – but with a schedule featuring Wolves, Burnley, and Leeds upcoming, Amorim will need to figure things out in the next nine days. If United have any dreams of the Champions League, they’ll probably need nine points from those three matches. If they have dreams of the Europa League, no fewer than seven will do.
Vince Rosetta: Started Strong, Finished With a Fizzle
United began the match showing good control of possession and organised build-up play, probing Villa’s defence and creating some early pressure. However, Villa’s Morgan Rogers struck first with a well-taken curling effort right before half-time, leaving United slightly stunned going into the break. Opta Analyst
United responded almost immediately, with Matheus Cunha finishing clinically after Patrick Dorgu dispossessed Matty Cash, showing United’s attacking threat when transitioning quickly. That goal briefly swung momentum in United’s favour heading into the interval.
After the break, United looked to push forward and regain control. The substitution of Lisandro Martínez into midfield brought some composure and competitiveness in central areas. United had chances to equalise and pressed Villa well at times, but Villa’s defensive resilience and Rogers’ finishing ultimately proved decisive.
Despite flashes of attacking intent, United couldn’t find a second equaliser. Villa’s tactical discipline and sharp counter-movement kept United at bay, leaving the Red Devils with a narrow defeat.
Nathan Heintschel: The time for Amorim to rebuild his relationship with the academy is now
We’re nearly at the midpoint of the season and United’s injury problem has gone from an annoyance to a crisis — further amplified by Amad, Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui out for AFCON.
In addition to United missing its right side, the team is without much of its first-choice spine in Fernandes, Mainoo, Matthijs de Ligt, and Harry Maguire. We also shouldn’t pretend like we’re not a slippery patch of grass away from oft-injured guys like Shaw and Mount missing time too.
Mercifully, Martinez and Sesko have returned to the pitch after missing time to injury but they’re likely in need of their minutes capped to avoid aggravation and the lack of squad depth could be a major spanner in those rehabilitation plans.
Amorim has two games before the January window even opens and, let’s be honest, this club is not likely to make squad-revamping purchases in the window — nor should it. Therefore, he must now turn to the academy to at least provide some relief while first teamers work their way back from injury.
Amidst the backdrop of some divisive comments from Amorim about young players and entitlement last week, Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey made their debuts against Villa, playing 17 and six minutes, respectively, while Tyler Fredericson and Bendito Mantato made the bench.
I imagine we may see more minutes for those debutants and potentially more opportunity for Fredericson to make an appearance. The absence of Mbeumo and Amad may open the opportunity for Mantato to also make his debut while Chido Obi — one of the “entitled” — might be the only striker option available to come off the bench for Amorim now that Sesko, Zirkzee, and Cunha are all likely starting the upcoming matches.
For a Amorim, who often speaks like he’s under siege by the media and fan criticism despite welcoming a lot of flack through his honesty, this is a moment for him to extend opportunities to academy players to supplement missing minutes, to make sure the current first teamers are not also run into the ground, and to also prove his commitment to keeping the club’s history alive. I don’t expect — and neither should you — that these academy players will magically save our season or be the next Class of ‘92. But they’re likely already better than Ugarte and they can probably do a job in their cameos.
It’s still on Amorim to manage minutes, expectations, and win games, but perhaps he might pull out some unexpected results. This can only aid in the development of young players who could either eventually become squad players or be sold to replenish the transfer budget.
