Manchester United drew a familiar blank in attack against Leeds in Stockholm on Saturday – and there were potentially worrying signs for Ruben Amorim as he attempts to turn things around
Rasmus Hojlund showed his disgust after Diogo Dalot failed to find him with a pass in Manchester United’s friendly against Leeds on Saturday. United drew 0-0 with the newly-promoted Premier League side in Stockholm in a drab start to their pre-season campaign.
Ruben Amorim gave an unofficial debut to £62.5million signing Matheus Cunha, who was one of the only positive takeaways from the match. Otherwise it followed a familiar theme for the club, who finished a lowly 15th last season and are expected to improve in 2025/26.
Hojlund managed 10 goals in 52 appearances for United last season, only four of which came in the league, and he often cut a frustrated figure up front. That continued on Saturday in the Swedish capital – and the Danish striker wasn’t shy in letting his team-mates know.
Hojlund was looking for Dalot to pass the ball in behind the Leeds defence, but it came later than he wanted it, meaning he was likely offside. “F*** sake,” he yelled in Dalot’s direction. The Portuguese full-back wasn’t interested in hearing his moans and simply ignored him and jogged on.
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The lack of a link-up between the two United players was evident later in the game too. Dalot did find Hojlund with a cross, only for his header to be deflected, while the young striker was shouting at Dalot again later on after he opted to pass to Patrick Dorgu instead of him.
This is a make or break pre-season for Amorim, but he clearly isn’t concerned about the atmosphere around the squad, who are missing Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony, Tyrell Malacia and Alejandro Garnacho, who have been banished.
“The environment is really good, of course sometimes we are going to struggle, but what I felt in the first moment is that if we are going to struggle, we will struggle together,” Amorim told MUTV post-match.
“That is the beginning of everything, then we have to put the quality. This club is not just about the effort, it’s about the quality, we have to win games.”
He added: “We need to create that bond between everybody [on the United States tour] – not just between the players but the staff. All the changes are stopping. We need to leave that as a group. We have a lot to improve, the speed of the game, all of the details. We need to improve.”
Amorim was clear on what the main problem was. “We have a lack of pace,” he said. “Especially in the middle of the park, you can feel it’s hard to bring the ball. We created chances. We have a lot to do but it was a first test against a Premier League team with two different teams, a good test.
“Matheus Cunha showed what we need, a player in between the lines who is really aggressive. We watched that during last season for a different team. We expect the same thing.
“You can see the connection with him and Bruno Fernandes is still not there. But it will be a good connection, because you can put a player like Kobbie Mainoo or Mason Mount there. We need to increase our quality in the final third.”
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
