Ruben Amorim has revealed why he decided to replace Joshua Zirkzee at half-time in Manchester United’s dismal 1-1 draw with Wolves.
Zirkzee was a somewhat surprising inclusion in the starting XI on Tuesday night.
The Netherlands international has been targeted by Roma for a January move and turned in a underwhelming performance after coming off the bench against Newcastle United on Friday.
But with Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo away at the Africa Cup of Nations, there was little alternative with Zirkzee starting alongside Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko in attack as Amorim reverted back to his preferred 3-4-3 formation.
United were poor from the opening whistle against Wolves but did score the game’s opening goal through the former Bologna star.
Zirkzee turned neatly in the box to open up space for the shot but there was a large slice of luck involved with his effort taking a huge deflection en route to finding the back of the net.
Wolves equalised just before half-time through Ladislav Krejčí with Zirkzee not emerging for the second-half.
The forward did not appear to be limping at any stage and was spotted on the bench watching a frustrating second-half play out.
Former United captain Gary Neville, on punditry duty for Sky Sports, was baffled by the change, commenting: “I’m not sure what’s happened with Zirkzee. If he’s not injured, then it’s a strange substitution.’
Speaking after the game, Amorim confirmed the change was not an enforced one.
‘We were running around trying to get hold of the ball,’ Amorim said.
‘We were struggling with their midfielders, and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers.
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‘We played with three strikers and sometimes that’s not the best thing to attack well.’
United did not improve after Zirkzee’s withdrawal as they dropped points against the side rock bottom of the Premier League.
Wolves had taken just two points from their previous 18 games before tonight.
