“Disgusting” – Agbonlahor insists three Man United trio should have been hauled off instead of ‘scapegoat’ | OneFootball

Gabby Agbonlahor felt Ruben Amorim had at least three better choices rather than taking off Joshua Zirkzee which led to an unpleasant incident.

In their final contest of 2024, the Red Devils found themselves trailing by two goals after 20 minutes, with their visitors Newcastle United running the show at Old Trafford. Eddie Howe’s men were also on the verge of adding to their lead, but Sandro Tonali was denied by the post.

Therefore, Amorim decided to act swiftly and decisively, replacing Joshua Zirkzee with Kobbie Mainoo in the 32nd minute, while a section of the Red Devils supporters cheered off the embarrassed Dutchman who headed straight to the dressing room, only to return to the bench a few minutes later.

To his credit, Amorim managed to improve his team’s display with this substitution, as the introduction of the young Englishman added some much-needed balance in the middle of the park, albeit the result remained unchanged. But sadly for Zirkzee, he was part of the collateral damage of the manager’s controversial call.

Gabby Agbonlahor doesn’t agree with Joshua Zirkzee substitution

For his part, Agbonlahor felt that the Portuguese tactician didn’t need to make a scapegoat out of the Netherlands international, especially with Christian Eriksen, Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez putting up worse displays.

“I didn’t like it, I thought it was disgusting from some of the Manchester United fans cheering him coming off,” said the former Aston Villa striker during his appearance on TalkSPORT.

“He’s a young lad, 23, new signing who hasn’t bedded in yet. New signings don’t always come good in the first handful of starts. I just felt sorry for him.

“I just didn’t like it, It wasn’t nice. There’s no more embarrassment than being taken off in the first half, it’s worse than being a sub who gets subbed.

“I don’t think he was any worse than [Amad] Diallo was or any worse than [Rasmus] Hojlund. I don’t think he had to take him off. I think he had to take Casemiro or [Christian] Eriksen off and put [Kobbie] Mainoo in there.

“[Lisandro] Martinez should have been dragged after 34 minutes, not make a scapegoat of Zirkzee. Amorim will look back at that and think ‘yeah, maybe it was a bit harsh taking him off after 34 minutes.”