What Joshua Zirkzee was spotted doing at full-time after Manchester United loss vs Newcastle, following early substitution

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Joshua Zirkzee had a night he would rather forget for Manchester United against Newcastle.

Entering the match against an in-form Newcastle, there was some trepidation in the air at Old Trafford.

When Newcastle scored after just four minutes, this turned into fear and panic – and we are now talking about the Manchester United players, not the fans.

Ruben Amorim could barely watch, and he took action after United went 2-0 down, and almost a third goal, deciding to make a change,

Off came Joshua Zirkzee, to cheers from the crowd – more cheering the fact Amorim was taking action, rather than specifically addressing the Dutchman, it could have been a number of them.

Zirkzee crestfallen

Joshua Zirkzee looked shellshocked as he came off – similar to how he played for 32 minutes, and headed down the tunnel, before going back into the dugout to join his teammates.

Perhaps he just needed a few moments to compose himself.

Alejandro Garnacho was spotted on the bench applauding Zirkzee as he was taken off, showing some encouragement to his teammate, in a nightmare situation for any player.

There are few worse situations for a footballer than being hooked before half-time, and Zirkzee suffered it on the big stage, with the Theatre of Dreams being anything but.

Zirkzee claps fans

At full-time Joshua Zirkzee stuck around with his teammates and applauded the Manchester United fans.

The blank look on his face showed his mind was elsewhere, he probably wanted to get back down the tunnel and away from the glare and cameras – but credit to him, he did what was asked of him.

Dutch teammate Matthijs de Ligt was seen chatting to him, possibly attempting to impart his own advice for the forward.

Zirkzee had started the game in a new role, playing behind Rasmus Hojlund, with Ruben Amorim telling MUTV that he had trained well. However, when the game began, he looked lost.

Amorim told his press conference: “For Josh, it was a really difficult moment for him. I felt I had to do something in that moment.

“It was a really hard moment for Josh and I don’t like to do that for my players. I felt he was suffering. I was thinking about the team and I’m really sorry for Josh.”