"None of that worked" - Portuguese media slam Man United player after shocking Ireland defeat
Two Man United players are in the Portugal National team squad, who are still fighting for World Cup qualification.
The international break is always a strange time for club managers, as they spend most of it hoping none of their players suffer an injury. So far so good for Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim in regards to the injuries, but he will also be looking to see how well his players perform whilst on duty.
Portugal played against Ireland on Thursday night and suffered a shocking 2-0 defeat, during which former United man Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for the first time in his international career. Furthermore, Portugal now needs to avoid a slip-up against Armenia in their last game; otherwise, they could be forced into the qualification play-offs by Hungary, rather than automatic qualification.
Bruno Fernandes didn’t feature for Portugal as he was serving a one-match ban, but Man United star Diogo Dalot did play the full 90 minutes. He played as a left-back, which isn’t his natural side. However, he has been featuring on the left for United more and more in recent weeks.
Dalot slammed by Portuguese media
His performances for Man United have been somewhat uninspiring this season, with flashes of goodness. It seems like it was more of the same for Portugal too, as Dalot failed to impress the Portuguese media with his performance against Ireland on Thursday night.
News outlet A Bola reported on the match and commented on every player’s performance, saying that whatever Dalot was trying didn’t seem to work. Their report reads: “He played on the left side, always opting for a vertical game that would take him to the by-line and allow him to cross, but none of that worked out well for him.
“He only stood out for his successive shots from outside the area, but none of them were successful.”
It seems that Dalot’s performance was quite indicative of his season as a whole, which has seen the 26-year-old replaced by Amad Diallo on the right-hand side for Man United, and sometimes replaced by Patrick Dorgu on the left.
Dalot will need to step up amid AFCON absences
The Portuguese defender is an important player for Man United, as he is one of the more experienced players, having been at Old Trafford since 2018 after he joined from Porto. At the moment, Amorim doesn’t need to rely on him necessarily, but he will in the upcoming months, as Man United are set to lose two key defenders.
Both Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui will leave for the Africa Cup of Nations in December, and so Amorim will need Dalot to likely start on the right-hand side in place of Diallo, who has been very impressive of late.
Based on how well the Ivory Coast do in AFCON, Diallo could be unavailable until late January, meaning that Dalot will really have to step up his performances to help replace the young wing-back. He’ll certainly need to improve upon his showing for Portugal on Thursday.