Manchester United suffered yet another slip-up in the Premier League under Rúben Amorim, who still hasn't managed to turn things around. The team fell at Old Trafford to Crystal Palace (0-2), making for a tough night, especially for Lisandro Martínez, who picked up a serious knee injury in the final minutes of the match.

Amorim has a huge task ahead if he wants to revive a project that’s falling apart. This defeat leaves United practically out of the race for European spots, potentially trailing by up to eleven points if Chelsea wins their game in hand. To make matters worse, the Portuguese coach loses a key player in his system: Lisandro Martínez.

Controversial decisions and lack of reaction

The Portuguese coach is still working with a squad built for Erik ten Hag, with no major changes since he arrived over two months ago. For this match, he decided to leave out Marcus Rashford, who is close to sealing a loan move to Aston Villa, managed by Unai Emery. Amorim had already made it clear last week that he wasn’t counting on him, saying bluntly: "If I could, I’d call up the goalkeeping coach instead."

Without Rashford, United brought in left-back Patrick Dorgu from Lecce for €30 million and young center-back Ayden Heaven from Arsenal, though neither was available for this game. Looking for attacking solutions, Amorim made a bold call: deploying Kobbie Mainoo, a defensive midfielder, as a false nine while leaving out natural strikers like Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee.

Mateta seals it and Lisandro Martínez goes down injured

United’s second-half push lasted barely ten minutes before Crystal Palace broke the deadlock. With about 30 minutes left, Leny Yoro lost his man on a set piece, Delacroix hit the crossbar, and Jean-Philippe Mateta pounced on the rebound to make it 0-1, silencing Old Trafford.

Amorim’s response came too late—Højlund and Zirkzee came on with just 20 minutes to go, but the team never really reacted. To make things worse, in the 77th minute, Lisandro Martínez suffered a serious injury while trying to win the ball from Eberechi Eze. His knee got stuck in the turf, and he left the pitch in tears on a stretcher, replaced by Matthijs de Ligt.

The night couldn’t have ended worse for the home side. In stoppage time, Mateta struck again to make it 0-2, deepening Manchester United’s crisis as they remain stuck in the bottom half of the Premier League, with their European hopes fading fast.