Regardless of how you view Joshua Zirkzee’s beginning at Manchester United, it’s clear that the reaction to his substitution during the game against Newcastle United was inappropriate. With United behind 2-0 and only 33 minutes played at Old Trafford, head coach Ruben Amorim believed he needed to make a change. He faced his bench and told Kobbie Mainoo to prepare himself. Mainoo, who had played in the loss to Wolves on Boxing Day just four days ago, took Zirkzee’s place. When his number appeared on the fourth official’s board, the Old Trafford crowd responded with ironic cheers. It was truly harsh and unseemly. It was hard not to feel sympathy for the Netherlands international, who clutched his tracksuit coat and hurried towards the Stretford End tunnel, clearly upset by the reaction. A short while later, the ex-Bologna player emerged from the tunnel and walked along the sideline back to the dugout. Numerous fans in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand applauded him when he returned. He also received applause from his United teammates Alejandro Garnacho and Leny Yoro, who were warming up near the tunnel. As Zirkzee passed the two, Garnacho clapped and urged the crowd to join in to show support for his teammate. Garnacho was a candidate to start against Eddie Howe’s team after coming off the bench for the third consecutive game against Wolves. Similar to Marcus Rashford, he was dropped from the matchday roster for the 2-1 victory against Manchester City last month, but he was reintegrated into the squad at the next chance, sitting on the bench for the 4-3 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup four days later. Nevertheless, the Argentine is still awaiting his first start since being excluded for the brief journey across Manchester. However, his reaction to Zirkzee’s withdrawal from the match against Newcastle provided ample evidence that he took into account Amorim’s intriguing explanation for both his and Rashford’s absence from the game against City. Amorim stated that Rashford and Garnacho’s exclusion from the squad was due to the significance of factors such as training performance, game performance, personal presentation, eating habits, interaction with teammates, and encouraging others.
