Man Utd ‘lack quality, fluidity and chances’ – and ‘expect better’

Lisandro Martinez, the stand-in for Manchester United, nicely sums up his remarks to the TV audience after the game.

After a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Wolves, he declared, “The guys are very disappointed.” We anticipate better.

The United fans who booed their team off at full-time can’t help themselves.

Despite collecting their first point since October, this Wolves side is still on track to surpass Derby County as the worst Premier League team ever after losing 11 straight games before Tuesday.

The same fans who chanted “attack, attack, attack” in the second half as their nation watched their nation’s defense struggle to create chances before 15 minutes later when head coach Ruben Amorim replaced one central defender with another in Leny Yoro.

Chido Obi and Shea Lacey, who are both untested and admittedly raw, remained on the bench.

After the most recent home game loss to 10-man Everton, failing to beat third-bottom West Ham, and giving up four goals to Bournemouth, expectations are what sums United up. They did defeat Newcastle on Boxing Day, but this is now.

The amazing thing is that United are only on goal difference at the end of 2025, behind Chelsea, who are likely to be in the fifth spot in the Champions League. When the first day of the match round is over in 2026, they will be ranked seventh overall.

When asked how he felt as the new year approached, Amorim responded, “I’m really confident. All we need to do is get rid of everyone.

I’m not sure what will happen until the season’s conclusion. Then comes the season’s resume.

In all fairness to Amorim, he does have a long list of absentees.

When Mason Mount failed to recover from the injury that forced him to miss the half-time performance against Newcastle, he was the eighth player to be sidelined for the game due to either an injury or an international duty.

The lack of creativity is obvious given that Bruno Fernandes’ absence was well known, and Kobbie Mainoo and Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo were both ruled out with a poorly timed issue that erupted on the training ground just before the defeat at Aston Villa on December 21 were both at the forefront.

Joshua Zirkzee was the only one Joshua Zirkzee had to look at when Amorim looked at his other options because Matheus Cunha was below par and Benjamin Sesko was still finding his way as a United player.

This player has been overlooked for almost the entire season and was taken off at half-time on Tuesday despite leading United in the opening period with a deflected shot. He has never been convinced that this level is the right level for the club.

Amorim tried to gloss over the situation, but given the circumstances, how can any other conclusion be drawn in comparison to how important it is for all parties to strike a deal with Serie A side Roma, who want to bring in a player who can improve United?

Amorim remarked, “I just look at what I can do to win the game.” Because we were struggling, we had to do what the game demanded.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a minority owner, has already expressed his concern about how much money United has spent on players who don’t support the cause.

One of the many examples is Zirkzee, a £36.50 signing from Bologna in July 2024.

Rob Edwards, the manager of Wolves, said he had mentioned the negative atmosphere in the stands to his players at half-time.

He is aware of how harmful that can be at Molineux this season because there has been a lot of that.

Everyone arrived anticipating a win, perhaps a comfortable win, and he did not mean that.

Amorim acknowledged that the absence of key players was an excuse, but he did pick some names and said it was very clear.

He said, “We are in a situation where many players are out at once.”

You know that when you have Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount, or Bruno Ferdinand in the middle, which is different from what you do, of course. That is typical.

“So, we just need to recover our players, and for the [other] players to come back from Afcon, the fluidity will be different.

We could win today, but our chances were slim, our quality, and our fluidity. Then a set-piece and goal were lost. To win games in challenging circumstances, these details are crucial.

It seems more fundamental. Better is expected, as Martinez once said.