On the day Marcus Rashford edged closer to a departure from Old Trafford, Manchester United lacked a cutting edge up front in a 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
There was more bad news Sunday for United with a tearful Lisandro Martinez carried off on a stretcher with a left knee injury – the latest injury to afflict the Argentina defender.
But while Ruben Amorim was poring miserably over another setback, another beleaguered boss Ange Postecoglou got some blessed relief as his Spurs side won 2-0 at Brentford for their first EPL win in 49 days.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored both goals in the second half for Palace to end United’s three-match winning run in all competitions – a streak coming after manager Ruben Amorim had called his team “the worst team, maybe, in the history of Manchester United.”
The Amorim era looks set to be without England international Rashford, at least until the end of the season, with the forward reportedly undergoing a medical examination at Aston Villa ahead of sealing a loan move with a view to a permanent transfer.
Even with striker Rashford absent, Amorim fielded a team with no out-and-out striker and failed to create many good chances against Palace, which picked off United on the counter. Mateta’s goals came in the 64th and 89th minutes.
United have lost seven of their first 13 home games in the Premier League this season, which hasn’t happened since the 1893-94 season. Five of those defeats have come in the last six home matches under Amorim.
“It is difficult to play here because we want to please our fans,” Amorim said. “This season is going to be like that, I said it since the first day.”
United were overtaken by Palace and dropped to 13th in the standings – one place and two points ahead of Spurs, whose win ended a four-match losing sequence in the league.
Vitaly Janelt scored an own-goal at a corner to put Tottenham ahead at halftime and Pape Sarr added the second goal in the 87th.
“We needed a big effort again today, a physical effort. We put that in,” said Postecoglou, who rested defender Micky van de Ven after the defender returned from injury in the midweek win over Elfsborg in the Europa League.
“Outstanding effort by the players.”
The result was a huge boost for Tottenham ahead of arguably the team’s biggest match of the season, the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals against Liverpool on Thursday. Spurs lead 1-0 from the first leg.
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