Amorim refuses to blame absences for draw

Ruben Amorim found no excuse for Manchester United‘s disappointing final performance at Old Trafford as they were incredibly held to a winless 1-1 draw Wolves.

United missed a clear opportunity to advance to the The Premier League top four against a team they beat 4-1 away earlier this month. Joshua Zirkzee looked to have United on course for victory with his 27th-minute opener, but Ladislav Krejci’s header earned Wolves only their third point of the season.

Wolves had the opportunity to end their long wait for a victory, and the result and manner of the performance will place greater scrutiny on Amorim, who has seen his side continually drop points at home this season.

Manchester United loses more points

United held on to beat Newcastle United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, having failed to win their previous three home games. Everton picked up an away win against United in November, while United were held at home by West Ham and Bournemouth.

The setback against Wolves came as United were missing a host of first-team players.

Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt, Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount all missed the match through injury, while Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui all feature at the Africa Cup of Nations.

But when asked about the absences, Amorim told BBC Match of the Day: “I didn’t use anything as an excuse. We tried to bring in two attackers and then we conceded from a free kick. Today was not our day.

“We knew it would be a different game to Newcastle. We needed more imagination today to create chances. We struggled in the first half trying to steal the ball. They put a lot of men in midfield. We tried but the quality wasn’t there. We need to recover for the next game.

“We tried to overload a team, but in the Premier League you need one-on-one and you need it and we didn’t have it today.

“We don’t have guys playing outside – we tried to overload the middle but today wasn’t our day.

“Even against Everton it was three points down, West Ham down two points. It’s always frustrating. Football is like that. If you focus on performance, we struggled today.”

Amorim Explains Zirkzee Submarine

Goalscorer Joshua Zirkzee was taken off at half-time in an eyebrow-raising substitution as he was replaced by 18-year-old midfielder Jack Fletcher.

Explaining the change, Amorim told Sky Sports: “We were running everywhere trying to win the ball. We were struggling with their midfielders, and sometimes you can attack better with fewer attackers. We played with three attackers and sometimes that’s not the best thing to attack well.

“This game is over, you can’t change the outcome of this one but you can move on and move on to the next one.”