Amorim has to bin Manchester United bastards like Hojlund

It was great, but it wasn’t. It was a breathtaking sight, but it wasn’t. Indeed, how can you make sense of another remarkable mixed situation in this Manchester United team?

It wasn’t as chaotic as Lyon was last season, but Monday night’s 4-4 draw with Bournemouth certainly came close. Reuben Amorim’s chaotic mass looked smooth and fluid at one end, but turned out to be creaky and exposed at the other.

Indeed, had it not been for two crucial late interventions from new signing Senne Ramens, the Red Devils would have come away with nothing, having dropped seven points from their last three home Premier League games.

After finishing 15th last time out, the Old Trafford side currently sit in 6th place, and with an increasingly crowded mid-table, such confusion may come as no surprise.

Such a position suggests gradual improvement in 2025/26, as was also evident on Monday, but continued concerns also reared their ugly heads despite shipping four games on their home pitch.

Manchester United’s worst performance vs Bournemouth

As for United, similar to the game against West Ham earlier this month, it was simply impossible to finish the game, although Matheus Cunha and Brian Mbeumo both scored narrowly in the first half to race to a deserved 1-0 lead that should have been extended.

In the latter case, the left-footed player wasted one chance after another, including a volley in the first half, and it was arguably the worst of recent poor performances from wingers in AFCON.

The 26-year-old was as guilty of failing to finish the game as long-serving Luke Shaw was of failing to lead a young, makeshift final line, with the Englishman wandering around as January target Antoine Semenyo equalized just after 40 minutes.

According to Sofascore, the experienced defender lost the ball 14 times in United’s erratic performance down the left channel, a performance that further highlights the need for the returning Lisandro Martinez to start in the coming weeks.

Similarly, with centre-back options severely depleted against the Cherries, Amorim is sure to put pressure on Carrington’s players to get Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire back into form and active again.

Two of the visitors’ three goals came from simple passes through the Red Devils’ defensive line, and all the good work they did on offense was undone too cheaply, especially with Eli Junior Crupi’s tying goal to make it 4-4.

While Amorim may have pointed to the need to strengthen his team as a whole defensively, performances like this only highlight growing concerns about his promising talent.

Manchester United’s ‘new Hoylund’ needs to be on the bench

The INEOS regime will likely look back with real regret at the signings made prior to his arrival, given that they paid an initial transfer fee of £64m for 20-year-old Rasmus Højlund in the summer of 2023.

Despite taking until Boxing Day to score his first league goal in English football, the Dane has at least had a good run of form alongside his brilliant performance in the Champions League group stage, where he scored six goals at the start of 2024.

The former Atalanta man, who was the club’s top scorer in all competitions in his debut season, sadly suffered from second-season syndrome, scoring just four league goals before being sent to Napoli during the summer.

The 2023/24 season gave the youngster some patience, but last season he regressed too far. Could the same thing happen again with INEOS’ own big investment, Lenny Yolo?

The French teenager, signed for £52m from Lille in 2024, bounced back to life in Manchester after an injury-plagued start and eventually became a key player in last season’s Europa League appearance, regularly pushing United up the pitch with his confident, gliding dribbles from deep.

Hailed as the “new Rio Ferdinand”, Yoro did more than enough to warrant encouragement in his first season, but now he is in danger of slipping into Hodgeland territory as another diamond in the rough that has lost its luster.

In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that he was hooked early in the second half after a shaky performance at Selhurst Park, when he was once again off the pace against Andoni Iraola’s side.

Playing on the right side of a back three, the France Under-21 international took just 47 touches, lost the ball nine times and failed to complete a single vital pass, dribble or cross from a progressive position before being sent off in the 69th minute.

Winning just 50% of his duels also spoke to Amorim choosing to withdraw the 52 million pound man rather than his million pound teammate Aiden Haven, especially with another left-footed player, Martinez, entering the fray.

Yoro, who has weaknesses defensively and is not a resource in any positive sense, has yet to prove himself as a long-term solution in any of the three rearguard roles, and is not having the happiest of moments in this tumultuous second year.

At just 19 years old, he won’t be fired just yet, but as was the case with Hojlund, he could be out after two seasons if he doesn’t show significant improvement by the end of the season.