Ruben Amorim must drop player Erik ten Hag never did vs Newcastle to undo mistake at Man Utd, it’s proving costly

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Manchester United’s attack has been utterly toothless over the Christmas period, Ruben Amorim must make a big call to fix it against Newcastle.

After a fast start offensively under Ruben Amorim, the past two weeks have seen a real regression in an attacking sense.

Manchester United have failed to score in back-to-back games, losing 3-0 to Bournemouth and 2-0 to Wolves.

In these games and against Wolves in particular, Amorim’s side was terrible going forward, failing to create a clear chance.

Against Newcastle, things have to change to avoid a sixth defeat in eight games and the answer to Amorim’s problem is something he has done before.

• READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Man Utd’s head coach – Ruben Amorim

The right wing-back for Manchester United must be an attacker

In the opening weeks of Amorim’s reign, we saw Amad Diallo look deadly playing from right wing-back. Having a winger-back on one side and more of a wing-back on the other gave United a brilliant balance.

However, in recent games, this has been done away with, as Amad moved into the right No.10 spot which has meant Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot have started at wing-back.

This has meant United are almost playing a five at the back at times, so when Amad or Rasmus Hojlund have the ball in a dangerous area they have no help.

So this has to change against Newcastle, with Mazraoui deployed on the left and Amad or even Antony on the right offering more offensively.

• READ MORE: Who is Amad Diallo? Height, Position, Transfer Fee, Salary, Career

How should Ruben Amorim’s attack look against Newcastle

With three consecutive losses for Amorim, something has to change.

So with the style of play and identity likely to remain the same, it seems likely that it will be personnel who change to make up for Bruno Fernandes joining the unavailable list.

Naming a defensive side has not led to good results for Amorim and so we think a slightly more proactive group may be in order against Newcastle – with £19m Dalot being dropped which is something Ten Hag never did.

By moving Amad to right winger-back, in possession, United could have more of a 3-3-3-1 as opposed to a 5-2-3 which we have seen in recent weeks.

So coming into the team behind Hojlund would be Garnacho on the left and Joshua Zirkzee on the right.

This gives United so much more threat in attack and should also see goals – which Amorim needs desperately right now as the defence should solve itself once individual errors are booted out.

On the bench, Amorim will have Antony and likely an academy attacker or two in order to cover for the increasingly poor options going forward.