AFCON is no excuse for draw against bottom-placed Wolves — Man Utd boss Amorim

Wolves, led by Rob Edwards, arrived having lost 11 consecutive matches and without a single league victory since April, but stole a point against Manchester United.

United took the lead in the 27th minute when Joshua Zirkzee’s strike took a massive deflection off Ladislav Krejcí to wrong-foot José Sá. However, Krejcí turned from villain to hero on the stroke of half-time, nodding home a deserved equaliser from a Hugo Bueno corner.

Amorim, missing a host of key names including injured captain Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Mason Mount, as well as AFCON stars Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo, was blunt in his assessment of the performance.

"We didn't use that excuse against Newcastle, and we are not going to use it today," Amorim insisted.

"But of course, if you see the game, I understand why we played the way we played today, the lack of fluidity, the lack of one-against-one."

The Portuguese manager acknowledged that the absence of his more creative outlets forced a change in dynamic, with a midfield pairing of Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte offering less "imagination" than the missing Bruno or Mainoo.

"We just need to recover our players, the players from AFCON to return, and then the fluidity is going to be different," he added.

The result leaves United sixth in the Premier League table as they head into 2026, with a high-stakes trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United on 4 January next on the agenda.