Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp believes that one Manchester United player offered a lot more on the pitch than “many others” after the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham.
James Maddison broke the deadlock in the 13th minute and Ange Postecoglou’s men walked away with all three points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Ruben Amorim’s men were unable to climb back into the Premier League contest, despite Manchester United starting off the match relatively strongly.
The Red Devils’ loss to Tottenham on Sunday evening has left Ruben Amorim’s side languishing in 15th place in the Premier League table.
United have only managed eight wins in 25 Premier League matches and the Red Devils have suffered a whopping 12 defeats in their campaign so far.
The Red Devils are only 12 points above the Premier League relegation zone and United are 15 points behind the top four after an abysmal 2024-25 season.
United manager Amorim was limited with his options against Tottenham and had a bench stacked with youth academy products due to injuries to first-team players.
Redknapp singles out Man Utd star
Ruben Amorim was dealt a major blow ahead of the Tottenham match after Manchester United winger Amad Diallo picked up a devastating injury.
Amad Diallo is now expected to miss out on the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign, with the 22-year-old Ivory Coast international suffering an ankle ligament injury.
The United attacker has been a bright spark this season and has shown his versatility for Amorim, including playing as one of the two No 10s or as a wing-back.
Amad’s absence led to Joshua Zirkzee plugging the hole as one of the two No 10s, with Bruno Fernandes dropping further back into midfield alongside Casemiro.
Joshua Zirkzee played out on the right and Alejandro Garnacho was out on the left, with both players supporting struggling striker Rasmus Hojlund in attack.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp said that Zirkzee’s showing was one of the few real highlights for United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
“Zirkzee did alright today, he was a bit of a bright spark, but there weren’t too many others,” he said, as per Stretty News.
“A disappointing result and performance for them – a difficult watch if you’re a United fan.”
Amorim reacts to Zirkzee vs Tottenham
Joshua Zirkzee saw out the full 90 minutes against Spurs on the weekend and the 23-year-old Dutch forward impressed at times with his performance.
The Netherlands striker has been met with criticism in his debut season at Old Trafford over his lack of goalscoring output in the final third.
However, Zirkzee has shown that he can offer more on the pitch than fellow United striker Rasmus Hojlund when it comes to linking up play in a match.
Speaking after the match, Amorim spoke out about the difficulties of losing Amad Diallo and requiring Zirkzee to play in the No 10 role in the winger’s absence.
“You start with one idea,” he said, as per Manchester United’s official website.
“We were asking about a long week for so long. And we worked our principles but day after day, you lose players that change your approach to the game.
“I could not play the same way with Joshua [Zirkzee] as I can with Amad. Sometimes you want Bruno [Fernandes] to reach the ball in the build-up because he’s really good [at] switching the play. But then you want Bruno also to press and it’s really hard.
“And when you are changing all the time to get the players to react to the base, it’s really hard.”
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