Amorim explains controversial Wolves decision after Neville's 'bizarre' verdict
Manchester United slumped to a deeply embarrassing 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final Premier League outing of 2025 at Old Trafford.
Despite being without eight senior players through injury and international duty, United were still expected to dispatch a Wolves side rooted to the bottom of the table.
Joshua Zirkzee started in the right-sided number 10 spot and did manage to open the scoring, albeit with a heavily deflected effort that owed more to fortune than finesse.
Wolves struck back on the stroke of half-time, as Ladislav Krejci powered home an equaliser to secure just their third point of the entire campaign.
Eyebrows were raised when United head coach Ruben Amorim made a bold call at the break, withdrawing Zirkzee and introducing academy midfielder Jack Fletcher.
Amorim clarified after the game that Zirkzee was not injured and the substitution was purely for tactical reasons.
He said (via Sky Sports): “We were running around trying to recover the ball.
“They overload with a lot of midfielders and we were struggling with that and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers.
“We played with three strikers, Cunha, Josh and Sesko, and sometimes it is not the best thing to attack well.”
Former United captain Gary Neville said on commentary that it was a “bizarre” decision from Amorim.
We do not agree with Neville.
A fortunate deflection does not justify ninety minutes on the pitch if the overall performance falls short.
Beyond the goal, Zirkzee struggled to impose himself and failed to contribute meaningfully to United’s press in the final third.
In a 3-4-2-1 formation, the two number 10s behind a central striker must regularly drop into midfield to close passing lanes and restore control.
Zirkzee rarely fulfilled that defensive responsibility, forcing Amorim to repeatedly urge him into position from the touchline.
The United manager instead opted to attack with Sesko and Cunha in the second half, while introducing Fletcher to restore balance and provide support to Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte.
Article written by Sanidhya Bhardwaj .