Passive Man Utd p*ss away progress to leave Ruben Amorim back at square one

After nearly two months of glorious respite, here we are yet again, apportioning blame for Manchester United being sh*te.

The Red Devils were dire in defeat to Everton , despite David Moyes side playing all but 13 minutes with 10 men. So submissive were the hosts at Old Trafford that the Toffees literally fighting among themselves was highlighted as one of the many areas United could improve.

Who is responsible for a performance that lacked minimum levels of intensity, nous and ingenuity?

The short answer: all of ’em. There is enough blame to spread around all the coaching staff and squad inside the United dressing room. We’ve conducted this post-mortem many, many times before. Must we open the corpse yet again? Oh, we must…

Jamie Carragher says the manager should ‘take a lot of the blame’ after sticking so rigidly to his formation, despite the events that were unfolding in front of him.

“It is my fault,” said Amorim post-match, accepting responsibility in that way that managers do, when they have no intention of shouldering the blame for anything other than picking from a group of players who, apparently, cannot think for themselves.

“I need to be better, to explain to the players how to play in every situation of the game.” The fact he immediately then zeroed in on those players’ for “starting the game with a different intensity” to Everton was a more accurate reflection of his mindset.

This is the thing with Amorim. He is honest . Sometimes painfully so. He is so dreadful at hiding his frustration when his players fail to achieve the bare minimum that he no longer tries. Not really.

It is actually quite endearing. And it almost certainly buys him more patience with Stretford Enders than his results deserve. But the credit earned by his honesty and open disdain for the players wrecking his head is almost immediately wiped out by his absolute, devout devotion to his system. Carragher called it is ‘baby’ and we hope for his actual children’s sake that Amorim is never put in the admittedly unlikely situation where he has to choose between them or 3-4-2-1.

We are only left to speculate why the United players, seemingly dead behind the eyes, steadfastly remained in that very formation, with no will or wherewithal for spontaneity, after Idrissa Gueye’s early red card.

It should have been on Luke Shaw or Lenny Yoro to step forward as United’s extra man, an advantage they wasted by clinging to their defensive position like a tatty comfort blanket.

Was that Amorim’s insistence? Or are all of his players now so drilled in this shape that any adaptation is utterly beyond them? Tell us either is true and we would not question it.

The abject inability of players to think for themselves, or even look after themselves, is a far wider problem beyond Old Trafford. Coaches preach about empowering players to find solutions in the game while simultaneously prescribing every minor movement in and out of possession. The contradiction goes all the way to academies and grassroots, leaving us with players at every level incapable of reacting to any scenario they haven’t meticulously rehearsed.

The game is poorer because we forget that football is about players, not cultish coaches and their desire to show how pure and clever their philosophy is. Which, with almost no exceptions, is ripped off someone else anyway.

But at the top level, it is easy to understand why coaches insist on mapping out every intricate detail, each run and pass, when they are only ever five games from the sack. If Amorim, like many managers at other clubs, was to place any of his faith in these players, he knows he is destined for a fall. So, instead, it becomes about systems, not players.

If Amorim genuinely feels he must “explain to the players how to play in every situation of the game”, he’s screwed. But he doesn’t really. Yet he’s still screwed.

Because after a year in charge and some glimmers of encouragement of late that must have had United players believing their own press through the international break, they can still turn up and turn in performances like this which are part of a pattern against teams in the bottom half.

Slate Amorim for his system or his like-for-like substitutes, but it was clear from literally the first minute that United’s players were failing to match the intensity of their visitors, despite the chance to position themselves among the Champions League chasers. Motivation cannot and should not be spoon-fed by the manager, it has to come from within.

Passing up that opportunity so meekly – or worse, failing even to recognise it – says more about this United side than the five games they went unbeaten just to remain in their rightful place: entrenched in mid-table.