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Manchester United fans booed and jeered their own player on monday night, ace Joshua Zirkzee bore the brunt of the fans’ displeasure during a dismal first half against Newcastle United.
The Red Devils were completely outplayed and lost 2-0 at home to the Magpies, with another shot ruled out for offside and Newcastle also hitting the wall in a woefully one-sided first half.
That encouraged it Reuben Amorim to turn to the bench after just 32 minutes and Zirkzee was replaced Kobbie Mainoo in an attempt to strengthen the center of the field, where the hosts were the second best by a distance.
Zirkzee immediately faced extremely loud cheers for the decision to remove him, followed by an equally loud boo as he left the field. The Dutch striker did not take his place on the bench, but immediately appeared to put on his coat and head for the tunnel – only to reappear a few minutes later.
During his half-hour on the pitch, Zirkzee managed just 14 touches of the ball, made three passes and won one free-kick, but had no impact in terms of creating or taking shots.
The match was only his seventh Premier League start of the campaign, with Rasmus Hojlund usually preferred as the starting No.9, with the 23-year-old from the Netherlands scoring three goals in just under 700 league minutes of action so far.
Amorim’s early substitution had little impact as Newcastle continued to have the better chances in the first half and still led 2-0 at the break.
At the time of Zirkzee’s replacement, former player Gary Neville – speaking to Sky Sports – called this version of Man United “the absolute worst pound-for-pound football team in the country, bar none.”
Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher called Lisandro Martinez, captain for the night in Bruno Fernandes’ absence, “awful” in his half-time assessment.