Sofyan Amrabat criticized after United’s fourth loss of the season against Crystal Palace

According to Chris Sutton speaking to Manchester Evening News, Sofyan Amrabat was “like a fish out of water” playing at left-back during Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace.

United struggled against a tenacious Palace at Old Trafford, failing to build on Tuesday’s dominant 3-0 Carabao Cup victory. Although Erik ten Hag‘s team dominated possession, they were unable to capitalize on Joachim Andersen’s deflected first-half goal.

Amrabat was very good against Palace. But against the more seasoned Jordan Ayew on Saturday, he had a much harder time. And Sutton expressed his assessment of the Moroccan on a difficult afternoon after giving away a cheap free kick midway through the second half.

Sutton told BBC Radio 5Live (h/t Manchester Evening News)

“Given away a free kick, being driven back towards his own goal by Ayew and he palms it, a keeper would be proud of that.”

“He’s not looked comfortable in that left back position today, like a fish out of water.”

Amrabat was once more moved to left-back because Sergio Reguilon was unable to play. During Tuesday’s cup match, the Moroccan was brilliant in that position, slipping into midfield and effortlessly controlling Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.

It’s still too early to criticize a player of his calibre. It’s just his second starting XI chance for the club and he has to learn and adapt to the game that suits Erik ten Hag’s tactics.

Before hosting Man City on October 29, the Red Devils still have four crucial matches left. A critical Champions League match against Galatasaray and a battle against Copenhagen are sandwiched between a home game against Brentford and a trip to the bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United.

Amrabat must perform to the best of his abilities in the forthcoming vital games. It is important for Man United to get the best out of the Moroccan midfielder. However, he might be forced to fill in at left-back for the foreseeable future.

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Now, it will be interesting to see how United perform in the remaining games to demonstrate to everyone that they are capable of challenging for the title. There’s a lot of expectations from the fans and let’s hope the team does not let them down.