Everton have nothing of substance up front and loss was worse than Grimsby for Man United – Ruben Amorim has shown dereliction of duty

Manchester United’s display against Everton has been labelled worse than their defeat to Grimsby.

That’s what talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent, Alex Crook, thinks as he discussed the Red Devils’ fourth Premier League loss of the season, with 10-man Everton beating them 1-0 at Old Trafford.

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Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored the only goal of the game with a fine curling effort in the 29th minute.

This came just 13 minutes after Everton’s Idrissa Gana Gueye was shown a red card for slapping his own teammate Michael Keane.

But United were unable to make their man advantage count, as they went on to chart an unwanted top-flight first.

After holding out for three points, David Moyes‘ side became the first team in Premier League history to beat with 10 men at Old Trafford.

It capped off a miserable evening for Amorim’s side, as their mini-revival of six matches unbeaten was brought to an end.

The coach has faced plenty of backlash for his team’s lacklustre display, with many again highlighting his refusal to deviate from his rigid three-at-the-back system, even with an extra player.

‘Can’t get my head around it’

In August, United lost to League Two side Grimsby on penalties, but that was nothing compared to Monday night.

“I can’t get my head around it last night,” Crook began.

“Everton have got nothing of substance up front when they’ve got 11 men, let alone 10.

“So the fact that [Amorim] has stuck with three centre-backs to the bitter end is a dereliction of duty.”

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He continued: “Just when you think things are turning the right way, this group of players find new depths to sink to.

“I think that performance last night, in many ways, was worse than what happened against Grimsby and that humiliation.

“It was an appalling performance.”

Amorim slammed

Crook was not impressed by a number of players, but also blasted Amorim for failing to make his system work with his group of players, even after a year in the hot seat at Old Trafford.

He said: “The performance was flat, the atmosphere to me seemed very flat for a team that were five games unbeaten.

“Luke Shaw was dreadful and Leny Yoro didn’t seem to know what to do with the ball.

“And in the DNA of Manchester United – this is a club built on wingers, getting to the byline, putting crosses in, getting in the area…

“[Legendary winger] Ryan Giggs would struggle to get into this team, because he doesn’t suit the system – how ridiculous is that?”

Crook added: “Yes, you can blame the players because they’ve got to take responsibility, barring Amad Diallo, for an abysmal performance.

“But the manager has to take responsibility as well, he was saying afterwards that they didn’t seem to know what they were doing against 10 men and that he had to talk them through the game.

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“You shouldn’t have to do that and it just highlights the fact that they’re not comfortable in this formation.”

Mentality questioned

After another crushing setback, United will look to bounce back in their next match, but face a tough test as they travel away to Crystal Palace in Saturday’s early kick-off.

Following this, they face relegation strugglers West Ham and Wolves in back-to-back games, but Crook admitted anything could happen, as he cast doubt over the mentality in Amorim’s group.

Looking ahead to Palace game, Crook said: “It’s a ground where Man United have come unstuck in recent seasons.

“This is always the concern that was nagging in the back of the minds of United players and the manager himself said before the game: ‘You never quite know what you’re going to get from this team’ – but you should do after a year in charge.

“They’ve picked up some good results where you wouldn’t expect them to, but they’ve got a run of games now between now and the end of December where there’s points to be won and these are the games where United can slip up.

“And that tells me there’s a still a big mentality issue at Old Trafford.”