But in saying that, we all know just how important pre-season is.
Admittedly we cannot be losing our shit at one game and the first at that as well. United playing like crap and not winning isn't something that is completely unknown to us as well, unfortunately.
So when facing this familiar foe we shouldn't have expected anything other than what we saw.
The starting lineup was interesting. While we got to see the two new boys Cunha and Leon start, it was surprisng to not see Hojlund up top considering that he will probably be our starting striker next season.
Amorim opted for Chido Obi instead and I'm sure that there would've been many people who would've preferred this and will prefer it for next season should United not get a new no 9.
It was also interesting to see Collyer start and more interestingly as a no 10. Indeed, the youngster was playing on the right of the two 10s with Cunha occupying the other. Many would've thought that either Amad or Bruno would feature in that position or possibly Mount but Amorim had other ideas.
Again, this is pre-season so we shouldn't be reading too much into this as Amorim did change the entire team in the second half. It's just you wuld've expected a team that would resemble a more realistic starting lineup to start.
Perhaps one thing the manager had in mind and is something we know is that he wants his skipper to play as a no 8. He did so again next to Casemiro but this was probably the area of the pitch that gave Amorim the most issues. That midfield combo didn't work as we were left exposed quite a lot. To be fair, it wasn't much better when Mainoo and Ugarte came on in the second half as the same issues was prevelant.
I'm not sure why the manager persists with Bruno deeper. It's clear it's not working and nor has it worked well in the past. He may provide a bit more quality and creativity on the ball but as he is il-disciplined in his positioning and leaves his partner alone quite a lot, we get overrun. Casemiro also doesn't have the legs to cover the ground vacated by the captain. This also results in a big gap between defense and the rest of the team.
I believe that if Amorim wants to use Bruno as a CM, he needs Ugarte next to him. The Uruguayan does provide the legs Casemiro doesn't and is a midfield pairing that compliments each other better.
A lot of people are saying that if Amorim were to stick with Bruno in midfield, that could lead him towards the sack given it's obvious weakness.
Another aspect of our game that needed improving was chance creation. Even with Bruno, Amad and new signing Cunha, the three most creative players in the team all on the field, United struggled to create anything of note particularly in that first half.
Despite 19 efforts at goal in total, United had just 4 on target.
The second 45 did see more action than the first but that was more down to Leeds who created the better openings. Tom Heaton who came on for Altay Bayindir at halftime, had to make a few too many smart saves to deny the opposition. Not necessarily what Amorim would've wanted to see.
United did hit the bar on a couple of occasions including towards the end of the game after a corner from Mount. We ought to have scored from it but a draw was probably a fair result.
Some of the positives include the performances of Cunha and Leon who stood out the most. You could say that they haven't been infected by the shit yet but let's hope that that doesn't happen.
A lot of promise shown by those two.
Defensively, United were solid as Leeds had just 4 attempts at goal but 3 were on target. What one could say is that maybe we were a bit too solid.
Amorim's 3-4-3 relies a lot on the wing-backs who have to be strong both defensively and offensively. In possession, they push forward giving us more options in attack leaving the three centre-backs to do the defensive work but without the ball, drop deeper to make it a back five.
As we don't actually have wing-backs as all of Mazraoui, Dalot, Dorgu, Leon and Shaw are all traditional full-backs, they don't understand how to play that position. They are good enough defensively but offer little and less going forward.
I was even disappointed that we didn't see any pre-season Pirlos. I know that that isn't necessarily a good thing because we know that come the season proper, those same 'Pirlos' suck, but at least for pre-season, it gives you something to enjoy. I'd rather a 2-2 or 3-3 draw with entertaining moments instead of what we saw. Those fans in Sweden would've been disappointed similarly to those in Kuala Lumpur a couple months ago.
Let's hope for a more engaging watch over in the States.
It's clear that even though this was one game, there is A LOT of work for Ruben Amorim to do. However, many of these players are shit. We know we cannot rely on them which is why I said at the start that this type of performance shouldn't have been a surprise. If he had the players he wanted, perhaps things could've been different. Look at the performances of Cunha and Leon.
Where I will be concerned for him is Bruno in the midfield. He wanted to keep this player and seems adamant on playing him as a no 8 which we all can see just isn't clicking, all of us other than the manager. This HAS to work for him otherwise it could lead to a potential downfall.
But that is pre-season game one done ✅. Four more to go.
Man Utd draw 0-0 with Leeds in opening pre-season fixture ahead of 25/26 season | Diego Leon makes Man Utd debut: Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)