The Grand Final for Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur finally came and… it was super disappointing!

To start, I missed my Starting XI projections for a bit, specially for United.

Ruben changed significantly, not from last Game to be honest, but from what it was the most common Starting XI at Europa League.

A few surprises and some good news, with Yoro recovering to play this match.

Then, Shaw played where Lindelöf has been playing and both Amad and Mount kept their positions instead of Garnacho and Ugarte, which meant having Bruno on the double-pivot of the midfield.

The logic behind this changes?

Well, I’m not sure if I understood correctly.

Potentially, Ruben looked to have more control of the Game, taking the Game to the Technical side, knowing that Tottenham is immensely stronger physically and that the physical advantage seen in matches against Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao, United was not going to be able to beat them at that area. Therefore, having Shaw would theoretically guarantee a cleaner way-out when playing from the back, using his left foot and technical quality.

Unfortunately, United’s left-side suffered a lot playing out from the back during the entire match, specially during the 1st half, where at times it seems they were falling for Tottenham’s Pressing with tremendous ease.

Secondly, having Mount as the left inverted-winger would potentially create the right support to create those combinations with Dorgu, more positioned at the side-wing.

However, after the initial minutes where Mason Mount was able to create some good play and combinations, he disappeared for the remaining of the 1st half and only during the 2nd half, when Tottenham was already solely focused on defending the score. 

On the right side, the same principle was thought but with Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo creating more synergies, and Mazroui initially staying more restricted in the attacking movements, and Casemiro staying as a holding midfielder to support the attacking players to prevent the counters.

On the other hand, understanding who stayed in the bench, leaving Lindelöf out can’t be considered a surprise pér sé.

Ugarte hasn’t been regular recently and, at times, slow with the ball, which Amorim knew it could seriously hurt United if a ball was lost in the center, as happened recently (on that detail, Casemiro has been surprisingly faster to adapt to the need of the fcorrect fluidity of the Game Model imposed by Ruben).

The biggest surprise, for some, was leaving Garnacho in the bench. In all honesty, although there has been some events where his behavior wasn’t the best, he’s been the player with more Matches and minutes played this Season. Moreover, when considering all the data I regularly post here, we can understand that Garnacho is still not able to deliver the quality required for a player in that position. He’s been presenting a low to very low levels of dribbling, crossing, assisting, shooting and, naturally, scoring.

As an example, Diallo, the most direct comparison in the squad, is way more dangerous in dribbling situations and even though he spent phases where he was either injured for months, as recently, or even when he wasn’t playing so much under Ten Hag at the beginning of this Season, he’s still the 2nd best scorer of the team for The Premier League. Garnacho played almost 1000 more minutes than Amad this Season and only achieved 1 more Goal and 3 Assists, in overall Competitions. 

In sum, Garnacho had 11 Goals and 11 Assists in 58 Matches and 3567 minutes, or an average of   61,5 minutes per Match and an average of an assist/goal at every 324 minutes (1 per almost 4 matches).

Is that so bad for a 20 years old player? No.

But the problem, as I spoke before, is the expectation created on the player through himself first, then, probably, the fans and, eventually and more importantly, the people surrounding him.

Garnacho was put in a pedestal where he shouldn’t be, because it’s simply unfair to him and, in my opinion, his talent.

Unfortunately, the most recent statements from him and from family members, lead to that this correlation of thoughts is correct, and due to those events, Garnacho may find himself in a delicate position considering his future at the Club.

Or, it was made purposely to break the bound and force a way out of the Club.

We never know.

What I know is that Ruben will not be tolerating these behaviors.

Going back to the plan behind all these changes, theoretically, one could think that the plan was well thought.

Or, at least, had a considerable potential of success.

The problem?

Tottenham, with Maddison not being able to play, recognized they could take the advantage and lead the Game physically and were way superior in terms of levels of aggressiveness (Tottenham finished the Game with 22 fouls against 10 from United), second balls and in defending closely the players that could create more danger.

The 1st half was, at a minimum standard, poor.

The 2nd half was slightly better for Football fans more concerned about Game quality, with United trying to get to the Spurs box in every way possible, but certainly not at the level expected.

Tottenham, on the other hand, secured with all their strengths to the own-goal scored by Luke Shaw and were very effective in removing both Bruno and Amad from the Game, with many Pressing Players and Coverage Players surrounding them every time they were near the box, preventing both outside the box shootings or dribbling.

Great win for Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham!

Super congrats!

Looking at Manchester United, this represents a massive loss for Ruben Amorim.

No Champions League, no European stages and a heavy 16th place at the table as a retrospective of this Season.

Not a light weight on Ruben’s shoulders.

But, as I’ve always said, he’s the right man at the right Club.

No doubts about that.

Time, money and patience.

It’s all it takes.

I’m expecting (and hoping) a lot of changes for next Season.

Let’s see!

How did you saw this match?

And, coming next, what do you see for United’s future?

Let me know in the comments!