Manchester United were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest on Tuesday and Ruben Amorim's decision to start Joshua Zirkzee over Rasmus Hojlund has been branded "crazy"
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Ruben Amorim
Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has been slammed(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Ruben Amorim has been slammed after he dropped Rasmus Hojlund as Manchester United lost to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday. Hojlund ended a 21-game goal drought in United's last game before the international break as he netted the opener in a 3-0 win over Leicester.
He also scored while away on international duty with Denmark, finding the back of the net in the UEFA Nations League quarter-final clash with Portugal. However, Amorim decided to drop the striker for the trip to Forest, with Joshua Zirkzee replacing him.
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And the move did not work for United as they were beaten 1-0 by Forest thanks to an early goal from Anthony Elanga. Amorim said the decision to start Zirkzee ahead of Hojlund was a tactical move, but former Premier League striker Clinton Morrison branded the move "crazy".
In response to the team news, Morrison told Sky Sports : "Crazy. It's crazy. Hojlund scored last time out against Leicester, and you want him to get confidence, but you just put him on the bench and put Zirkzee in. I don't get it with Ruben Amorim, I totally don't get it.
"We're critical of Hojlund; he gets a good goal against Leicester and you're thinking his confidence will be sky-high. I know he might have a different game plan, but it's not good for the centre-forward in Hojlund. I don't like that."
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Morrison's comments come after United legend Jaap Stam claimed that Amorim's tactics are to blame for Hojlund's struggles in front of goal this season. "I think that it's the style of play that is holding Rasmus Holjund back," Stam told Makthavare.se.
"We don't know how the manager is trying to use him in matches and I think he doesn't get a lot of chances to touch the ball and get into games.
"It becomes a very difficult situation for a striker because you don't see crosses coming into the box and the emphasis should be on creating chances for him. If you don't get chances you can't prove how good a striker you are."
And Amorim laid into his players after the defeat, claiming they "helped" Forest win and that they simply suffered from having a lack of quality in attack. "We controlled the game, but we already knew this team (Forest) can score goals out of nothing," Amorim told TNT Sports.
Rasmus Hojlund
Amorim dropped Rasmus Hojlund for the defeat to Nottingham Forest(Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
"When they scored we changed the game a little bit from what they want. We tried with good opportunities, but in the last third, the last pass, the last assist wasn't there. Then if we don't have that we cannot score goals.
"This season is like that. We had a lot of shots on goal, we pushed the opponent to the last third, but in the last third we had a lack of quality. We need to win games and we deserved more in this game, that is clear, but it is our fault and we need to be better in the last third.
"We should have won this game, not even drawn, but in the end we have lost three points. We know the characters of the team and one goal can put them in one situation they love.
"We have to score two goals to win a match and that is frustrating as it was the beginning of the game. We helped them to win three points."
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