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The agony goes on for United as they lose their final game of a miserable 2024 Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim looks dejected after the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse for Manchester United, they slumped to yet another comprehensive home defeat and next up, they have a rampant Liverpool at Anfield lying in wait on Sunday. It wasn’t just the 2-0 win for Newcastle at Old Trafford that ensured United ended a miserable 2024 on a predictably disappointing note, as the manner of this latest defeat confirmed a reality that has been confirmed time and again by this team of misfits over the last 12 months. Aside from their brilliant performance in the FA Cup Final against Manchester City last May, United’s players have been a disgrace to the badge they are paid to wear on their jerseys and their final act of the year set more unwanted records.
This was the first time since Matt Busby's era in the 1962-63 season have Manchester United lost three home games in a row in all competitions. It was also a sixth defeat in a bleak month of December, their most in a single month since September 1930. Head coach Ruben Amorim has only been in place since mid-November and he is already looking lost on the touchline, with former United defender Gary Neville resigned to his fate as he watches his old club with increasingly despair in his voice.
Neville was in the commentary box for Sky Sports as Newcastle strolled to victory and when he broke down their deficiencies after this latest humbling, he failed to find any silver linings. "It is really grim. That first half-hour was hard to watch,” said Neville.
"A lot of what we saw we knew was going to happen. I didn't see any balance in the team selection. Once l saw the team, l thought it would be a struggle.
"I think we knew a lot of what we actually saw on the pitch was going to happen. I mean, Casemiro and Eriksen in midfield. "Jamie Carragher had done a piece in the studio about Mazraoui and Dalot playing wing-backs and being more defensive.
And that wouldn't lead to goals, which is exactly what happened. I asked Ruben Amorim before the game, the idea of Zirkzee in that sort of left pocket, that's not a left pocket that you stay in. "That's a left pocket that means that you have to go and pick up the right back for Newcastle when he goes forward.
That's a left pocket that means you have to make runs through. So it's not really, and when he said that he wasn't really a number nine, and that's where he saw him playing, I was surprised. "I didn't see any balance in the team selection.
So I think that whilst I was a little nervous about Manchester United doing well in this game tonight before I saw the team sheet, once I saw the team sheet I was pretty sure that it would be a struggle. I think a lot of what we saw we expected, it was a grim night." Amorim has admitted he is already under pressure just a few weeks after he replaced Erik ten Hag, with Neville suggesting the team has taken a step back since his arrival.
"There's no doubt it's deteriorated performances and results in this last few weeks,” he stated. “They're finding it very difficult, some of the players with the system, they're finding it very difficult with the confidence, and the concern is that they're getting dragged into a fight down there near the bottom, but they are at this moment in time, you keep thinking they're going to hit a low point.” When asked about Sunday’s game at Liverpool, Neville could not hide his discomfort as he looked ahead to what appears to be an alarming mis-match between the two most successful clubs in English football.
"We’ve got to go to Anfield on Sunday and do you remember in the old Sunday league days when teams didn't turn up,” said Neville will a smile, clearly hinting United would be better off skipping the trip to face the Premier League leaders. "Going into that game now, Liverpool are massive favourites. I would play the players with the most energy and legs.
If you watch that Liverpool team, they can all run, so he has to play the highest energy team.” It may seem as if can only get better from here for United..
. but the concern must be that they are about to get a whole lot worse as they face their oldest rivals at a moment when they are at their lowest ebb..
