Another loss, this time meaning that the race for a title is gone.

One journey without success.

First of some that will happen this Season, for sure.

However, something tells me that yesterday’s line up, Match Strategy and result was somehow planned.

I don’t mean that it was made to lose, don’t get me wrong.

But, let’s be realistic: United cannot fight for all titles (ie. Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Europa League).

Therefore, decisions and plans need to be made and addressed accordingly.

And perhaps, the Carabao Cup is not a priority.

I (try to) understand.

First comment to Ruben.

Regarding the Game, there’s definitely different parts to analyze.

Ruben keeps trying to do different things, giving opportunities to everyone that is currently at the squad.

But, as everyone is observing, without success for the great majority.

There’s an element of individual accountability that this system provokes and that is very hard to over look at any goal conceded, opportunity given or ball possession lost that isn’t easily and immediately correlated to an individual (bad) assessment or lack of quality.

Virtually all players have been in these less comfortable positions, naturally.

Some more than others.

As I’ve been writing, all sectors of the team need improvements.

However, it’s hard (and perhaps not fair) to judge a player for 1 Match, one single performance taken out of the context of not performing for long time.

This happened with multiple players yesterday.

Second comment on Ruben.

With that said, I must say:

Onana has been given the responsibility to start all the matches under Ruben, but yesterday Bayindir took over the responsibility to be the Goalkeeper and had a bad day. 

Understanding that Set Pieces, and specifically corners, are really wild in England and the worldwide rules of protecting the Goalkeepers sanctuary space inside the box are not applied and accepted, strategies must be created to stop conceding goals from this moment.

Moreover, Lindelöf last match was more than 1 month ago, and it was almost more than 1 month and a half ago (November 7h, to be exact) that he played more than 45min in a single match.

Yoro made for the first time this Season more than 66min.

Although I understand that there’s no room to lose the best players, the ones that are showing that want to be part of the project, and that Ruben wants to give everyone the opportunity to say “Present” to the project that he’s building, the 3 Centre-backs weren’t the best players.

To add on top of this, Lindelöf (surprise, surprise) couldn’t handle the Game level rotation and, unfortunately, had another injury. 

To have Harry Maguire (one of the good performers under Ruben) and choose for John Evans just reinforced my theory.

Same thing in the midfield.

Ugarte is, without a doubt, the most important player at the moment in this sector.

Although I’m surprised of not having Mainoo (a tremendous player, full of potential) more regularly playing on the starting 11, the truth is that he’s still coming from an injury and he’s having a lot of minutes under Ruben and (maybe) yesterday was just another protective measure of not having him starting the Game and going for Eriksen instead.

The result? 

Couldn’t be great, and the Tottenham midfielders seemed to swallow the Man United opposites, mainly in the 1st half.

Not to mention that, even looking only to the United side, there is a big difference in everything from these 2 players.

At times, it seems that Ugarte is flying and Eriksen struggling to even walk.

Eriksen is a top technical quality player, don’t get me wrong. 

But for this specific system, in that position, it requires more than technical accuracy.

You need the physical abilities, the pressing, the duels, the 2nd balls, the technical capacity, the ability to score or assist, to be a force on the build-up, etc.

It’s not an easy task, that is why profiles as Eriksen and Casemiro are struggling so much.

In the attacking, all struggled.

Bruno is still fighting to fit the position requirements (remember when I said that he would struggle a lot with so many positional changes?) and seems to not find the right pressing rhythm or the right offensive positioning, at times.

Antony and Højlund were a shadow of what has been their performances, even if in different proportions. 

The Brazilian has been a good help coming from the bench, but yesterday wasn’t able to find the right space to show his qualities. 

From the attempts to drible, he missed all, and finished with 4 out of 13 duels won…

Similarly, Højlund struggled during the entire 57min he was on the field, with 1 shot alone (not even on the target) and 67% of pass accuracy.

Not great!

As expected, Mainoo and Amad gave a quality that United desperately needed and keep showing they are on the top-performers group that Ruben wants in his project.

On the other hand, Zirkzee (although he scored) and Garnacho both came with the right attitude on the field, they don’t seem to have the capacity to be as impactful as others.

As a final comment on Ruben decisions, I would like to have a more stable starting 11 featuring in Man United matches, but I also try to understand that there’s limited resources available for the fixtures calendar.

Yesterday, was Tottenham.

In 2 days (Sunday) there’s Bournemouth at home.

After 4 days, on the 26th, the famous boxing-day presents Wolves away.

After another 4 days (30th), the year ends with Newcastle at Old Trafford.

11 days with 4 matches (!)

Not an easy task and injuries are a serious concern.

I get it.

But the difference is really, really significant.

Maybe it’s the plan, to show how bad things were.

For the hopes, January is arriving and changes are expected.

Not many, but 1 or 2 players should be important to start the process.

More importantly, a good number of players should go for the Club to start the healing process, create a peaceful environment and prepare for greatness!