The Peoples Person

Manchester United suffered through yet another disappointing afternoon as they fell to a 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.

It was a challenging afternoon for Ruben Amorim’s men, given the wave of injuries and illness that hit his camp. As a result, the bench was filled with academy players, with Victor Lindelof as the sole substitute who has actually amassed Premier League experience.

While Man United showed sparks of promise, the team’s finishing was yet again of a poor standard, with just six of their 16 shots finding the target.

It was this issue that prevented United from clawing their way back into the game after going behind just 13 minutes into the encounter.

For United legend Dimitar Berbatov, however, it was the team’s defence that let them down, especially when failing to defend James Maddison’s goal.

“It’s a great save from Onana, to be honest,” Berbatov said of the initial save by the United keeper following Heung Min-Son’s initial shot before continuing: “But the reaction from the defender is basically, none because it’s really difficult and Maddison is lively, on his toes, anticipating the game, reading the game, where to be.”

“I think that communication between the defenders in United’s backline is crucial, and I don’t think it’s at the level that it should be,” Berbatov continued.

“If you see someone free, tell your colleague, ‘push wide, go cover him.’ Son was like two minutes alone, and nobody saw that.”

“And because of Son – it’s not a great shot on the ball – but still, that started from there,” the retired Bulgarian striker concluded.

Berbatov’s observation seems like something that Amorim and his coaching staff should have been paying attention to, yet this issue remains unresolved.

United have struggled at the back throughout the Premier League campaign, with recent performances showing no signs of improvement.

The team has conceded seven goals in their past five league matches, slumping to three losses and managing two wins.

If Amorim hopes to improve United’s fortunes in order to save some face as the business end of the season approaches, he would be wise to heed Berbatov’s words in order to patch up United’s weaknesses.

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Manchester United suffered their third defeat of the season in all competitions against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with the North London club clinching a 1-0 win in the Premier League on Sunday.

Spurs have been awful this season and yet, they have now done the league double over the Red Devils with Sunday’s win being Ange Postecoglou’s first home league victory in 105 days.

The team from Old Trafford have now lost eight of their last 12 in the league and 12 overall, the most since the 1973-74 season in which the club had got relegated.

James Maddison’s 13th minute strike proved to be the difference in the end with Alejandro Garnacho squandering multiple chances with one particularly glaring miss from 10 yards out in the first half.

United let down by big names again

Andre Onana was once again culpable for the goal as he managed to palm a relatively easy shot straight to the former Leicester City star who made no mistake.

The 20-time English league champions were struck by a major injury crisis before the game with Amad Diallo and three of their midfield regulars suffering injury while a few were also ruled out due to sickness.

As a result, United’s bench had eight academy graduates and Victor Lindelof was the only senior player among them.

Casemiro, who has hardly played under the Portuguese tactician, started alongside Bruno Fernandes and his rusty side was on full display during the game.

Despite the midfield often being easily bypassed, Amorim did not change things. In the second-half, the game got stretched and his players struggled to create and looked tired.

Lack of bravery shown by Amorim

Yet, the former Sporting Lisbon boss did not make any substitutions. With Rasmus Hojlund once again struggling, it looked clear that a change was needed to freshen things up.

Yet Amorim persisted and only brought on academy sensation Chido Obi in added time. Given the club’s poor form and with the game in the balance, some bravery could have been shown by the coach.

Throwing youngsters into the deep end might not be the right step to take but in a season where the seniors have underperformed and the club is languishing in 15th position, surely youthful energy and bravery would have helped.

United are famed for their academy and for trusting in youth and even if things would not have worked out positively in this game, it was worth the risk after picking eight of them. But clearly, Amorim did not get the memo.

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Manchester United suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur to drop down to 15th place in the Premier League table.

James Maddison took full advantage of a mistake from Andre Onana to tap the ball into the back of the net from close range in the 13th minute of proceedings.

The Red Devils had some chances to restore parity and possibly mount a comeback but they couldn’t make any of them count.

United have now lost 12 top-flight matches this term and it’s also the first time Tottenham have beaten them both home and away in over 35 years.

There were several players who were poor but Patrick Dorgu was not one of them. The January signing made his debut for the club in the 2-1 win over Leicester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, demonstrating very encouraging signs of the player he is and what he can bring to Old Trafford going forward.

Against Spurs, Ruben Amorim deployed him at left-wing-back and Dorgu didn’t disappoint, despite not getting on the ball as often as he’d have linked.

During the time he was on the pitch, Dorgu touched the ball 54 times and managed to find his teammates with 23 of the 29 passes he attempted. Two of his passes were key passes.

The 20-year-old managed to connect with only one of the five crosses he dispatched.

Dorgu was brilliant defensively, winning an impressive seven of the eight ground duels he delved into and coming out on top in the one aerial challenge he contested.

The Dane drew three fouls and made one clearance. He also put in four tackles.

(Stats obtained from Sofascore)

It was another positive display from Dorgu, who is slowly but surely finding his feet at United.

Up next for Amorim and his players is a Saturday away trip to face David Moyes’ resurgent Everton side. That match kicks off at 12:30.

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Manchester United fell to a frustrating 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday evening.

With both sides suffering from poor recent runs of form, Man United would have surely been looking to take advantage of a cataclysmic Spurs defence in order to come away with a result.

Unfortunately, their finishing proved to be a problem yet again, with no one in Ruben Amorim’s lineup managing to convert any of their chances into goals.

The opening minutes saw Tottenham dominate possession. While they were camping in United’s third, the hosts posed little danger, struggling to create any goalscoring opportunities despite their advanced position on the field.

On the stroke of 10 minutes, United were on their first attack which happened to be a blistering one. Rasmus Hojlund took a shot that was well-saved, with Alejandro Garnacho pouncing on the rebound. His shot was also blocked, with Diogo Dalot picking up the loose ball afterwards. He took a shot from the right of the goal, but yet again, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was on form. Some promising signs from an injury-rocked United.

Sadly, United’s promise was forgotten soon after. 12 minutes in, the hosts broke the deadlock. Lucas Bervall took a shot from the edge of the box that Andre Onana parried. An alert James Maddison breezed past the United defence to pounce on the loose ball and slot it into the back of the net.

It was a poor response by Onana, who should be catching shots like those with relative comfort.

Then, Garnacho completely scuppered a close-range shot, firing the ball ridiculously high over the top. Clearly, he needs to do more work on his finishing on the training ground.

Four minutes later, Heung-Min Son cut the ball back to Mathys Tel in the centre of the box, who fired a threatening shot goalwards that Onana parried.

In the 40th minute, Casemiro was shown a yellow card when he clattered into Son. It was an unnecessarily reckless challenge by the Brazilian.

While United entered the break trailing, it was a somewhat decent performance by Amorim’s team, who produced some quick, attacking football. Sadly, finishing remained a problem, meaning that United would need to improve in this metric in order to find a way back into the contest.

Seven minutes after the restart, Tel ballooned a prime scoring opportunity over the crossbar, allowing United to breathe a sigh of relief.

Soon after, the action returned to the opposite end of the field, where Garnacho’s shot was stopped by the keeper.

Garnacho took another shot in the 57th minute, which was parried by Vicario yet again. United were showing some great initiative on the attack, yet their finishing still seemed to come up short.

In the minutes that followed, Tottenham were glued to the ball, making it seemingly impossible for United to get a touch. Still, their efforts were wasted when Jedd Spence fired a long-range effort high and wide.

With 19 minutes to go, Noussair Mazraoui picked out Joshua Zirkzee in the box with a sublime cross. Unfortunately, Zirkzee’s header glanced wide of the far post.

As the match wore on, United showed little sign of improvement. The team’s energy continued to drain, with manager Ruben Amorim seemingly unwilling to bring on fresh legs.

Casemiro then got on the end of a cross, directing his header goalwards only for the keeper to catch his shot.

Just then, Amorim changed his tune, substituting a jaded Casemiro for Chido Obi, who was making his senior debut for the club.

Sadly, there was to be no moment of redemption for United, who failed to get in on any further action before the full-time whistle.

It was yet another disappointing match for Amorim’s side, who simply appear to have given up on turning their Premier League season around altogether.

Starting XI: Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Maguire, Fernandes, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Dorgu, Garnacho, Casemiro, Dalot

Subs: Chido

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Manchester United suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. Here are our player ratings from the game.

(A score of 6 is around average)

Andre Onana 2 – Very poor parry into an extremely dangerous area for Tottenham’s opening strike. Distribution also not good enough.

Noussair Mazraoui 6.5 – Some decent defending to limit Son Heung-min’s threat. Incredible cross into the path of Zirkzee, which should have resulted in a goal for United.

Harry Maguire 6 – Quietly went about his job in the middle of the back three. Didn’t do much wrong.

Matthijs de Ligt 5 – Completely lost James Maddison for the opener. Needed to be more aware of his surroundings in that instance. Mostly OK after that.

Diogo Dalot 4 – Should have perhaps done better with his chance inside the box after the ball dropped to him. Just doesn’t offer enough going forward in the wing-back role. Let Son run wild down the right at times.

Casemiro 2 – Demonstrated why he rarely gets minutes for United. Constantly dispossessed, gave the ball away multiple times even under little to no pressure and allowed opposition players to easily run past him. Just doesn’t cut it at this level anymore.

Bruno Fernandes 4 – Put the ball on a plate for Garnacho, who aimed his effort well over the bar. Not as influential as he usually is and recklessly gave the ball away on a number of occasions.

Patrick Dorgu 6 – Didn’t see a lot of the ball but did well when he got on it. Looked to get forward when he could and also strong defensively.

Alejandro Garnacho 5 – Missed a clear-cut goalscoring chance to restore parity. Fired a few other shots but couldn’t beat Guglielmo Vicario. Kept passing up the opportunity to play in Dorgu on the overlap.

Joshua Zirkzee 7 – One of United’s better performers, especially in the first half. Some decent touches on the ball and did well to hold up the ball and link up play. Should have found the back of the net when he got on the end of Mazraoui’s cross but he headed it wide.

Rasmus Hojlund 3 – Struggled again. Looked a little bit better when he was drifting into wide areas.

Substitutes

Chido Obi 5 – Thrust into the pitch in added time for his senior debut. Not much he could do.

Featured image Alex Pantling via Getty Images

Patrick Dorgu starts his first away match for Manchester United today as Ruben Amorim’s decimated side visit Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

Dorgu will play wing back, probably on the left side for the first time in a United shirt.

Elsewhere in the team, Andre Onana is in goal.

The back three are Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui.

Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro are the central midfield pair and Diogo Dalot the other wing back.

Up front, Alejandro Garnacho and Josh Zirkzee flank Rasmus Hojlund.

United are in the midst of yet another injury crisis.

Luke Shaw, Jonny Evans and Mason Mount are still unavailable, along with Lisandro Martinez, who had surgery on an ACL injury this week. They have been joined by Kobbie Mainoo and Amad on the injury list, with Amad also needing surgery after damaging an ankle ligament in training.

Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer also picked up injuries during the week and Altay Bayindir has not recovered from the knock that saw him miss out against Leicester last Friday. Leny Yoro and Christian Eriksen are missing from the squad. They could be ill as Amorim mentioned players being sick during the pre-match press conference.

This means the substitutes’ bench sees a lot of young faces, with potential debuts beckoning today.

The full bench is Elyh Harrison, Harry Amass, Tyler Fredrickson, Victor Lindelof, Ayden Heaven, Jack Fletcher, Jack Moorhouse, Sekou Koné and Chido Obi.

Kick off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is at 4.30pm.

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Manchester United have been hit by a sudden injury crisis ahead of their crucial Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Amad Diallo is set to miss the rest of the season after picking up an ankle injury during training. And Ruben Amorim will also be without three midfielders for Sunday’s game.

Kobbie Mainoo will be unavailable for a few weeks while Toby Collyer and Manuel Ugarte are also set to miss the game against Spurs.

In this desperate time, the head coach has been forced to look to the club’s famed academy and five of Carrington’s finest have travelled to London for the game.

Academy call-ups

As relayed by The Peoples Person, Chido Obi, Sekou Kone, Jack Moorhouse, Harry Amass and Elyh Harrison have all made the trip to the capital.

Given the obvious gaps in midfield, there were talks of James Scanlon also being included given his great form for the academy sides this season.

But Scoop, a reliable source of information on the academy, has revealed that Scanlon has not made the journey and instead Amorim has picked Jack Fletcher for the match against the North London side.

“I’m told Jack Fletcher has also travelled to London with Ruben Amorim’s squad. James Scanlon has not travelled despite reports suggesting otherwise,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Jack, son of former United midfielder and current coach Darren, is an attacking midfielder by trade and has excelled for both the U19s and U21s this season.

Jack Fletcher in contention

The 17-year-old has five goals and six assists this term and his passing quality and intelligence seems to have caught Amorim’s eye.

He has already been on the first team bench earlier in the season when Erik ten Hag was in charge. Given United’s obvious dearth of quality, he has a great chance of making his Premier League debut for the club.

As for Scanlon, despite his red-hot form, United seem to be planning to use him more in the U21 set-up for now as revealed by Nathan Salt of The Daily Mail.

“Told James Scanlon isn’t part of the travelling first team squad today. He’s trained this morning with the U21s and is looking at being involved against Fulham tomorrow night.”

He deserves more opportunities because he has made the academy level look very easy and his absence is quite surprising give his knack for finding the back of the net.

Having grabbed a late winner against Leicester City to proceed to the fifth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United will look to improve their fortunes in the Premier League as well when they face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.

While the trip to North London can often prove to be a tricky one, it appears as if the hosts are one of the few elite sides that are actually struggling more than Man United this season.

In their last five Premier League outings, Spurs have come away with just a single victory, losing all four other matches. Their losses include a shock 2-1 loss at home to strugglers Leicester City as well as a 3-2 defeat to Everton, yet another team in the bottom half of the league table.

When looking at Spurs’ recent performances in other competitions, it becomes clear that their defensive fortunes have been no better. While they defeated IF Elfsborg 3-0 in the UEFA Europa League, they have struggled when coming up against opposition who are actually of the same calibre or better, suffering a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool to crash out of the Carabao Cup.

Manager Ruben Amorim will be hoping that his side can take advantage of Spurs’ defence at a time when it appears to be particularly vulnerable, especially as a means of exacting revenge for the 3-0 drubbing at Old Trafford that took place earlier this season.

Still, in order to do this, Amorim will need to ensure that his side fix an issue that they appear unable to overcome.

While United have managed to be consistent goal scorers, they often place themselves under unnecessary pressure due to their wasteful finishing.

Take their FA Cup victory over Leicester, for example. With 13 attempts on goal, United got just four on target. In fact, their first accurate shot came in the 65th minute, when Alejandro Garnacho beat the keeper, only for Caleb Okoli to make a goal-saving interception,n which saw the ball reverberate off the crossbar.

It took a 93rd-minute header from Harry Maguire to secure the win for Amorim’s side.

United experienced the same issue during the previous match against Crystal Palace. Despite taking 17 shots, just two were on target, with the first accurate attempt coming in the 51st minute by Bruno Fernandes. Yet again, United were unable to register an accurate shot in the first half, suffering a 2-0 loss at home as a result.

Perhaps United’s most shambolic attacking display came in their 1-0 win over Fulham when a moment of magic by Lisandro Martinez saved the day. Taking just four shots on the day, Martinez’s 78th-minute strike was the only one that remained on target.

In the embarrassing 3-1 home loss to Brighton & Hove Albion the previous weekend, United were able to pull a goal back thanks to a Bruno Fernandes penalty, yet even with 10 shots on goal, that remained their only shot on target throughout the match.

It’s clear that no matter the final outcome, United appear to have developed a troubling trend in recent times that they just can’t seem to shake. Not only is their shooting accuracy way poorer than what it should be, but Amorim’s team takes an exceptionally long time to even register an accurate shot, which often only comes in the second half.

While they may be fortunate enough to get away with their wastefulness and tardiness against weaker opposition, Spurs will no doubt come out swinging, especially as they look to overcome their poor recent run of form.

Should United hope to get anything out of this match, they will need to not only improve their finishing but show their attacking threat earlier in the match. After all, not grabbing an early lead or falling behind from early on will only make it that much more difficult to secure victory.

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Manchester United travel to Tottenham Hotspur today hoping for their first win against the Lilywhites this season.

They have played each other 203 times in history, with the Red Devils winning 96 times.

There have been 51 draws and Spurs have come out on top on 56 occasions.

Here are three plotlines to dig into before the match.

United’s recent struggles against Spurs

For a long time, United dominated Tottenham Hotspur.

In the entirety of the 1990s, for example, they only lost four matches against the North Londoners.

This has not been the case in recent times as the Red Devils have not beaten Tottenham in the last five matches.

In fact, the last victory for United came in October 2022, early on in Erik ten Hag’s managerial spell when they won 2-0 at Old Trafford.

The last victory in London came in October 2021 when they won 3-0 during the dying embers of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s rein.

United’s leaky defence versus Spurs

The Red Devils’ defence has hardly been watertight all season but they have particularly struggled against Tottenham.

According to The BBC, “Manchester United have conceded at least twice in each of their last four Premier League games against Spurs.”

“The last side they conceded multiple goals against in 5+ consecutive league games was Arsenal (5 between 1975 and 1978).”

Spurs have massively struggled this season, lying 15th in the table but they have scored 48 goals in the league with only Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal scoring more.

United also shipped four as they were knocked out by Ange Postecoglou’s side 4-3 in the Carabao Cup in December. The Red Devils are also looking for their first win against the Australian coach.

United are surprisingly on a good run of form

Despite all the negativity around the club at the moment in regard to financial problems, unpopular ownership decisions, piling up injuries and league position, United are actually on a decent run of form under Ruben Amorim.

The Red Devils have won four out of their past five games in all competitions.

They are also unbeaten in four away matches in league and cup, winning two and drawing two since a 2-0 defeat at Wolves on Boxing Day.

It must also be said that United have done reasonably well in away day games against the traditionally bigger clubs since Amorim took over in November and fans will hope this trend continues as the club certainly needs some good news at the moment.

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Disaster has struck Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim and his already threadbare squad this week as four new injuries have been picked up.

With Marcus Rashford, Tyrell Malacia and Antony having left on loan and Luke Shaw, Jonny Evans and Mason Mount still injured, the last thing United could have afforded was another injury, let alone four.

News broke yesterday that Amad has suffered an ankle ligament injury that may end his season and that Kobbie Mainoo also picked up an injury in training that will keep him out of action for three weeks or more.

Amorim also confirmed that Manu Ugarte and Toby Collyer are also struggling to be fit for this afternoon’s game.

If they don’t make it, there will only be 13 outfield players available to Amorim who have ever played for the first XI before.

Despite two of those being midfielders in Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, we suspect that they will both start on the bench.

With Casemiro almost certainly short of match fitness and Eriksen lacking the pace to cover for him, Bruno Fernandes could play in midfield once again, possibly partnering Noussair Mazraoui, who played the role 44 times for Ajax earlier in his career.

The back three would then probably be Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro, although a ring-rusty Victor Lindelof should be available and new signing Ayden Heaven could also be in the mix.

The wing backs will be Diogo Dalot and another new signing, Patrick Dorgu, who impressed on his debut last Friday. Who will play on which flank is hard to predict; Dorgu is a leftie and Dalot better on the right, but they were reversed last week.

Up front, unless Fernandes does play higher up the pitch, there is only Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Josh Zirkzee available.

Andre Onana will be in goal.

Several academy stars have travelled with the squad, including Chido Obi, Sékou Koné, Harry Amass, Jack Moorhouse and Elyh Harrison. So there is an excellent chance of at least one debut today, with Heaven also yet to take to the field in a red shirt.

The bench could therefore be: Bayindir, Lindelof, Heaven, Amass, Casemiro, Eriksen, Moorhouse, Koné and Obi. Fans who follow the academy will be itching to see the latter grab a debut at the tender age of 17.

Here, then, is our predicted line up for the 4.30pm GMT kick off:

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