Manchester United forward Amad has come under fire this week after his disappointing record this season came to light, but it isn’t his fault at all.
Last season Amad established himself as the top player in attack for Manchester United, but the arrival of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo changed that.
The pair arrived and have brought goals and moments of brilliance to the club, leaving Amad’s return of four goal contributions paling in comparison.
Amad was disappointing against West Ham, with the 1-1 draw highlighting the Ivorian’s struggles to contribute this season.
Does Amad need to produce more for Manchester United?
The Ivorian is the clear odd one out right now.
Amad cannot be blamed for right side struggles at Manchester United
In Michael Carrick’s 4-2-3-1 shape, Amad has been deployed as the right winger, however, despite his advanced role and playing every minute, he is yet to contribute a goal or assist.
In comparison, Mbeumo has scored three and got one assist, while Cunha has two goals and an assist. But this lack of output isn’t all Amad’s fault.
After a late moment against West Ham in which Amad failed to shoot when through on goal, fans began to question his role, perhaps unfairly.
Amad is United’s only senior winger who is a proper touchline player, and his creativity speaks for itself as he does a lot of good work. However, he is usually left in a two on one situation by Diogo Dalot.
Dalot isn’t blessed with his quality in attacking areas meaning he rarely overlaps Amad, and even if he does the defenders don’t follow as they’re aware that he’s not the danger man.
Sometimes Amad even ignores him not trusting his teammate.
So we are asking Amad to play with no help from his full-back offensively and if United want to unlock the wing, it needs to be done with a Dalot upgrade who is a threat going forward.
The situation is similar on the left, with Luke Shaw poor in attacking areas right now with passive performances that see him failing to hold the width well, something Patrick Dorgu will solve as he holds the width lessening the need for a flying full-back.
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Michael Carrick took 13 points from his first five…
Amad does need to improve but Michael Carrick’s bigger issue is the full-back
While he can blame his lack of help on the wing as a reason behind his form, Amad also does need to improve his finishing, with an underperformance of 2.05 goals when compared with his expected goals.
Amad, however, is simply a different player to Mbeumo and Cunha who have both played a variety of roles to get their goals this season, as he relies on link-up which Dalot doesn’t give him.
Dalot is becoming known for his disappointing moments to ruin attacks as he wastes opportunities in key areas of the pitch on a regular basis, being something of a black hole for attacks.
Amad would benefit much more from Noussair Mazraoui starting instead of Dalot as the Moroccan has much better technical ability and would be a bigger threat in those advanced areas, giving Amad more space.
Carrick needs to solve this before facing Everton as the full-back issue is one big part of United’s inability to break down a low block.
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