Owen Hargreaves has identified one pattern under Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim after the Red Devils’ 1-1 draw against West Ham on Thursday.
Manchester United are eighth in the Premier League table and the Red Devils’ form has taken a knock in recent weeks after winning only one of their last five matches.
What is your MESSAGE to Ruben Amorim after the 1-1 draw vs West Ham?
“We had good moments and we lost a little bit of control after the goal. We should have closed the game when we scored the first one.”
Ruben Amorim
Ruben Amorim’s men returned to winning ways last Sunday after United’s 2-1 comeback victory over Crystal Palace, only to regress on Thursday evening.
United fans watched on at Old Trafford – and around the world – as the Red Devils dropped valuable Premier League points against West Ham in their 1-1 draw.
Diogo Dalot inflicted the first blow of the match by opening the scoring in the second half, but Soungoutou Magassa netted an equaliser for West Ham against United.
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Owen Hargreaves singles out a major error on Ruben Amorim’s part in Man Utd’s performance against West Ham
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim made wholesale changes to his starting XI over the course of the second half, all the while the Red Devils were leading.
Four of the five substitutions that the 40-year-old former Sporting CP boss brought on were defensive-minded options, with Mason Mount being the only exception.
Speaking after United’s 1-1 draw with West Ham, Owen Hargreaves is convinced that the Red Devils lost control of the match due to the substitutions made.
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“The challenge was reckless and because he slides in from behind, this is a simple second yellow card and a one which should then have been punished with a red card.”
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“I think at this point [before the subs], they were in good control, I think obviously [Leny] Yoro for [Ayden] Heaven,” he said on Premier League Productions.
“I don’t know what happened there if that could have been, you know, maybe injury-related.
“But I just think when you change, you know, a lot of those are kind of at the back.
“You know, [Lisandro] Martinez for [Luke] Shaw and [Patrick] Dorgu for [Diogo] Dalot, you know, they didn’t defend the same as they did.”
Owen Hargreaves picks up on an important Ruben Amorim theme and it speaks volumes about Man Utd right now
United have been unable to hold on to their leads in recent weeks, with the Red Devils dropping points against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham in November.
Amorim has become complacent with his substitutions in the 2025-26 Premier League campaign and it has cost United’s serious momentum in matches.
The Red Devils boss made the same mistake in United’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham, with Amorim upsetting the balance of the Red Devils’ team.
Hargreaves singled out United’s performance against Tottenham at Spurs’ stadium as another example that showed similar parallels to the West Ham encounter.
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“I think they had something similar at Tottenham,” he added.
“They made quite a few changes and it kind of affected them.
“But I just think five players, you know, from your 10, obviously the goalkeeper, that’s, you know, that’s half your team and then maybe communication isn’t there, but it affected them for sure tonight.
“From that moment on, it felt like West Ham had quite a few moments in there.
“I know they didn’t have a lot of the ball, but they created more moments from that time.”
Amorim’s approach to substitutions is having a knock-on effect for United’s scorelines, especially when leads are already razor-thin in matches against West Ham and Tottenham.
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