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Having thoroughly enjoyed the thud and blunder of Monday night’s tremendously entertaining draw between Manchester United and Bournemouth, Football Daily found itself stifling a yawn during the post-match discourse. Much of the chatter focused on tactical tweaks Ruben Amorim may or may not have made to his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, a debate roughly equivalent to Titanic passengers discussing the second violinist’s tempo as the ballroom tilted into the Atlantic. It was a measure of the Old Trafford chaos that pundits couldn’t decide definitively if Amorim had consciously abandoned his “non-negotiable” back three policy, or if his system simply dissolved in the evening’s chaos. Asked to clarify, United’s head coach offered cheeky obfuscation. “That is for you to discuss, not for me,” he parped. “I know you guys know that I trained this week with a back four. I don’t know how [you know], but that is a good thing for you to discuss.”
United failed to prevail at home against a team that are now winless in seven matches, lost more leads than a distracted dog-walker in a squirrel sanctuary and relied heavily on their goalkeeper to help them avoid conceding two late goals [isn’t that his job? – Football Daily Ed]. For all that, their performance was hailed by Sky Sports grandees Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher as “their best performance of the season”. Whether this is a reason to be cheerful or a reflection on just how far standards have plummeted at the Theatre of Dreams is irrelevant; such praise would inevitably buy Amorim a few days of peace without having to concern himself with the cacophony of grumbling that has soundtracked his tenure. Wouldn’t it?
