Final proves Amorim must focus on one area attack

As emotion poured from Ange Postecoglou in a heartwarming sight on the San Mames turf, Manchester United’s dejected players, stood, to a man, as desolate figures.

- PETE HALL

There was no consoling of friends. Nobody offering a shoulder to cry on. Just underperforming, inept footballers alone with their thoughts.

Top of their concerns, other than a handful of more useful assets, is how they can go about convincing their employers to keep them for another season after limping to a 20th defeat of the campaign against Tottenham in their Bilbao or bust Europa League final. Or whether, in fact, they actually want to stay.

Some improved parts are on the way – Matheus Cunha is almost there, with Liam Delap reportedly still keen, even without European football on offer. But who else will want to join? A generation of talent is not old enough to remember United being anything like the force they were in the Sir Alex Ferguson epoch, and if there are other Premier League rivals in contention, transfer targets will almost certainly look elsewhere.

A disastrous season had the most fitting end. Manchester United are hurtling back in the opposite direction from where they are supposed to be heading. Unless Ruben Amorim is some kind of miracle-working footballing alchemist, United’s immediate future is bleak. More defeats. More redundancies. More misery.