Neville Tears Into Amorim After Zirkzee’s Half-Time Hook in United’s Draw with Wolves

Manchester United had the platform, the crowd and the opponent to go and finish the job. Instead, the headline is about a half-time change that’s got Old Trafford scratching its head. Joshua Zirkzee put United in front—via a deflection, granted—but he was still the man on the scoresheet. Then, with the game level after Ladislav Krejci’s thumping header from a corner, Ruben Amorim pulled his goalscorer for Jack Fletcher at the interval. Cue outrage, and Gary Neville wasn’t holding back.

The decision that stunned Old Trafford

United started slowly, found a moment through Zirkzee, and then surrendered control on a set piece. Fair enough—it happens. But when you’re facing the side propping up the Premier League table, few inside the ground expected a striker to be hooked for a midfielder with the scores tied. The substitution felt like United blinking first.

Amorim’s tactical defence

Amorim insisted the switch was calculated, not medical. His view? United were being outmanoeuvred in midfield and chasing shadows, and that playing with three out-and-out forwards wasn’t helping them knit the game together. In short, he believed fewer strikers would mean better structure, more control and cleaner possession. He clearly felt Zirkzee—who’d been asked to drop in and help earlier—wasn’t giving him the shape he wanted.

Neville’s verdict: “Shouldn’t happen”

Neville, on Sky Sports commentary and later on his podcast, called it a miss from the touchline. He argued that withdrawing the scorer when the contest is there to be won sends the wrong message, especially at Old Trafford. He also took issue with how Zirkzee had been used prior to the change, pointing out that shunting the Dutchman into wider channels doesn’t suit his game and leaves United blunting their own edge. In Neville’s eyes, if anything, Zirkzee should have been paired centrally—rather than sacrificed—while others were rebalanced around him.

The bigger picture for United

This wasn’t a tactical disaster, but it felt like an opportunity ducked. United needed front-foot intent and clear patterns after the break; instead they went safer, tidier, and ultimately blunt. Amorim’s logic about stabilising midfield is sound in isolation, yet the opponent and the moment demanded more risk. If United want to reassert Old Trafford as a place teams fear, they can’t be rationing strikers when the game is there to be seized.

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What we learned

Zirkzee remains a penalty-box threat who needs centrality, not sidelines. Wolves, despite their league position, punished United’s set-piece frailty. And Amorim, for all his conviction, will be judged on whether pragmatism costs points. The takeaway from Neville’s blast isn’t just the frustration; it’s the plea for a bolder identity. United can tidy games up—or they can go and win them. On this evidence, they chose the former and paid with two points.