Man Utd stuck in same cycle under Ruben Amorim: one step forward, two steps back

Manchester United are running out of turning points.

They can’t keep taking one step forward and then two steps back, and that’s the incredibly unsexy dance they performed once again in their 1-1 draw at home to West Ham after beating Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

That was a huge win, an unexpected win, against a very good team. They had to back that up with another win against a pretty poor one. Alas, they didn’t.

Ruben Amorim should be criticised for his substitutions, which ultimately cost them victory on Thursday night. He even managed to spark debate with his starting XI.

The Manchester United head coach made the bold call to hand young defender Ayden Heaven his first start of the season, with Matthijs de Ligt – the club’s player of the month – out due to a minor injury. Heaven didn’t come in for De Ligt, but for Leny Yoro, whose dropping to the bench was a “tactical” decision.

Heaven needed to settle quickly, and he did the opposite, smashing into Jarrod Bowen with a slide tackle and receiving a yellow card after only eight minutes. Not ideal, but it clearly didn’t rattle him because he didn’t have a poor first half. Still, he evidently wasn’t good enough in Amorim’s eyes as he was substituted at half-time for Yoro, with the booking clearly concerning the Portuguese.

Heaven starting on Thursday reaffirmed what we already knew: Kobbie Mainoo is in Man United exile.

After emerging as one of the club’s best players under Erik ten Hag, becoming an England regular and starting in the final of Euro 2024, Mainoo can’t get a kick anymore, and a January sale is looking more likely with every passing week.

Another appearance on the bench while Heaven was in the starting XI left Mainoo in worrying company with Tom Heaton, Lisandro Martínez and Tyrell Malacia as United’s only first-team players yet to start in the Premier League this season. If you were unsure, that’s their third-choice goalkeeper, a guy who has been injured all season, and someone who was in Amorim’s pre-season bomb squad.

While his standing in the Red Devils’ squad hierarchy is striking, it’s not like he’d have transformed a cautious United performance.

Amorim has said that he’s competing for a starting spot with club captain and best player Bruno Fernandes, and from the minor minutes we’ve seen of them together, it actually makes sense. But for Mainoo, it’s a horrible situation; Fernandes is literally undroppable. His form needs to fall off a cliff to be benched, and he’s only missed nine Premier League games in five full seasons, largely due to suspension.

Casemiro has also been pretty good in midfield for the Red Devils and is Amorim’s biggest success story. He has been criticised for his rashness in the past, but he is more disciplined in that position than Mainoo.

Man United fans are desperate to see Mainoo play more because they love him and he’s an academy graduate with incredible potential, but during a disappointing performance against West Ham, there can’t have been many people watching and thinking the game was crying out for him.

Their performance made for a very dull first half at Old Trafford, highlighted largely by Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s defensive contributions.

The first genuine moment of quality came from Alphonse Areola, who acrobatically tipped Bryan Mbeumo’s cross-cum-shot over the bar, denying United another set-piece goal that would have seen them overtake Arsenal in that statistic in the 2025/26 Premier League season.

In terms of attacking quality, that was really all she wrote in the opening 45 minutes. There was a brief flurry of shots that could have sparked Ruben Amorim’s men into life; Wan-Bissaka cleared a Joshua Zirkzee header off the line, Matheus Cunha had an overhead kick blocked, and Bruno Fernandes’ scissor volley clipped the post. It wasn’t the shot in the arm United needed, just three shots.

Wan-Bissaka was player of the half, adding an incredible sliding tackle on Cunha in his own box before producing an expertly read headed clearance from a tantalising Fernandes cross.

It was unfortunately much of the same when the game restarted, but in a match between two teams that can be excruciating to watch that was crying out for a goal, we finally got one just before the hour mark, and in fairness, it did improve proceedings.

Diogo Dalot benefited from a bit of luck when Casemiro’s blocked shot fell straight to him, though he still had plenty to do. His first touch was perfect and the finish was that of an experienced No.9, shifting the ball past Wan-Bissaka and in the opposite direction of Areola’s momentum.

Dalot’s goal put United up to fifth in the Premier League table… for 25 minutes.

Beating West Ham at home was the only acceptable outcome for United, and going up into the Champions League places would’ve been a welcome bonus. But after taking the lead, they didn’t push for a second, and as the second didn’t come and their opponents found an equaliser, Amorim’s substitutions will rightly be criticised.

Patrick Dorgu on for the goalscorer, Manuel Ugarte for Matheus Cunha, and Mason Mount for Joshua Zirkzee suggested that Amorim thought it had to be a case of holding onto the one-goal lead rather than pressing on against one of the worst teams in the Premier League this year and putting the game to bed.

Ironically, when Nuno Espírito Santo brought on Andy Irving, his first contribution was to instantly take a corner kick that led to Soungoutou Magassa’s 83rd-minute equaliser.

United might feel aggrieved that Wan-Bissaka wasn’t shown the most blatant of second yellow cards you’ll see all season, but the fact of the matter is that they didn’t do nearly enough to win the game. Areola wasn’t tested enough and any half-chance they did get was rashly wasted, like Fernandes’ left-footed volley in the fifth minute of injury time.

There was a serious lack of quality at Old Trafford. It was just a bad game of football. The United players looked dejected at the end, knowing it was an unacceptable performance and that West Ham at home should have been an easy three points.

Questions will be asked about Amorim’s in-game management again. It cost United and epitomises their season so far: one step forward, two steps back. Just when you think they could get back amongst it, they do something stupid. It’s tiring for us, let alone someone who actually goes to the games.

It’s bottom-club Wolves next. Another team in the relegation zone. No matter how poor they are, United can’t relax and act as if the game is won at 1-0. Or, knowing this team, even at 2-0.

Amorim’s substitutions were so negative that they rubbed off on his players, who seemed to think it was game over and that they could just see it out. Nope. West Ham can still punish you. Even Wolves can still punish you.

United can’t become too casual in these fixtures. They cannot follow an impressive win at Palace with a poor draw at home to West Ham. And we can’t keep looking at games and saying afterwards, ‘Well, Amorim will learn from this.’

It’s clear that this team still has a long way to go. They’ve taken a step forward and a step back so many times they no longer have any idea which way they’re facing.

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