Whitwell: Impactful Man Utd man appeared to ‘signal an injury’ to Amorim, it’d come at the worst time | OneFootball

Diogo Dalot was withdrawn shortly after he opened the scoring for Manchester United tonight.

The defender retained his place in the XI for the visit of West Ham this evening and proceeded to repay Ruben Amorim’s faith by netting United’s only goal of the game.

His contribution was eventually countered by Irons starlet Soungoutou Magassa, who levelled the scoring with just seven minutes and stoppage time left to play.

Given United were unable to claim all three points from what should’ve been, on paper, a relatively straightforward win against a struggling side, much has been made of Amorim’s substitutions since the full-time whistle was blown.

Amorim comes under fire for defensive changes

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

The United boss opted to make four defensive changes in the second half, leading some fans to believe that he was happy to settle for a measly one-goal lead for over half an hour.

However, journalist Laurie Whitwell has attempted to make some sense of Amorim’s decision-making, saying post-match: “Amorim’s subs will be scrutinised. [There were] reasons for most.

“[Ayden] Heaven had a difficult half + [had been] booked. Dalot looked to signal an injury. [Matheus] Cunha ineffective on [his] return. [Luke] Shaw [was] on a yellow.”

Even still, Amorim’s in-game management will continue to come under the microscope the longer United muster up performances like they did tonight.

Why tonight’s fixture was a must-win

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Samuel Luckhurst added that tonight is the fourth time since the start of November that United have wasted an opportunity to move inside the ‘probable’ Champions League places.

A win against Nuno Espirito Santo’s men would’ve seen the Reds move up to fifth in the table, but they instead sit eighth-placed upon the culmination of matchweek 14.

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