The Red Devils’ line-up for the Manchester Derby was leaked on social media the day before the game, with key players Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho notably missing from Ruben Amorim’s selection.
Reports suggest that some players, including Garnacho and Amad Diallo, were questioned about the leaks, but Amorim is certain of their innocence. ..Continue Reading
United’s form has dipped since their derby victory, losing three consecutive league matches without scoring a goal. Their latest defeat came at Old Trafford, where they conceded two early goals in a 2-0 loss to Newcastle.
Alejandro Garnacho’s brother, Roberto, has also denied being the source of the leak, while Amorim remains dedicated to uncovering the truth.
Members of the first-team squad have reportedly launched their own investigations to identify the informant.
According to The Mail, players’ representatives have been approached with names of potential informants, with information allegedly coming directly from the players themselves.
Amorim, speaking to Sky Sports, justified his decision to drop Rashford & Garnacho by saying: “We try to evaluate everything – training performance, game performances, engagement with team-mates, push their team-mates up,” adding, “Everything is on the line when we analyse and try to choose the players. It is my selection. Simple.
“I don’t want to send a message it is simply an evaluation and they know it. The players are really, really smart. Everybody understands my decision and I have to choose. It is simple selection.”
Since the derby, Garnacho and Rashford have seen some action, with Garnacho coming off the bench in United’s last three league matches, while Rashford stayed on the bench as an unused substitute against Newcastle.
Up next for United is a challenging match against league leaders Liverpool, who have been remarkably consistent under Arne Slot, losing just once in all competitions this season.
Liverpool won the reverse fixture 3-0 at Old Trafford when Erik ten Hag was still the manager. After the recent defeat to Newcastle, Amorim admitted to the tough task of reversing United’s fortunes.
“It’s really hard, I think it’s really hard on everybody and you feel it on the pitch,” he admitted. “I think we show some improvements in the first games, especially against [Manchester] City and Tottenham [in the Carabao Cup], even in Arsenal the first moment, but we are losing that because of the lack of training and the lack of belief after so many losses. Some difficult moments when you suffer some goals in the beginning of the games and then it’s really hard during all the games.
“So it’s a really tough moment for everybody and I think the players losing everything, the small things that we try to work on in training, after one goal, they lose everything because they don’t have the base, we don’t have time to build the base to cope with the difficult moments. So it’s really hard in this moment.”
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