Thierry Henry baffled by what this Manchester United star did against Newcastle
Manchester United’s shambolic defending in the 4-1 hammering by Newcastle has rightly come under fire, but it was Leny Yoro’s baffling body language that left Arsenal legend Thierry Henry utterly stunned on Monday Night Football.
United were once again exposed at the back as Harvey Barnes netted twice in quick succession to turn a close contest into a demolition at St James’ Park. Alejandro Garnacho had given United hope by cancelling out Sandro Tonali’s opener, but the second-half collapse was a familiar sight in what has been a historically poor season.
While United fans vented their frustrations over the team’s overall lack of fight and organisation, Henry zoomed in on a moment of madness from Yoro that summed up the Red Devils’ defensive disarray. The young defender, who was surprisingly included in the lineup, was caught completely flat-footed for Barnes’ second goal—and then bizarrely looked to the linesman as if expecting a flag.
“I invite everyone to stay on Leny Yoro,” said Henry, bemused. “First and foremost, he’s going to try to play offside. It’s a great finish from Barnes but please stay on Yoro and what he’s asking for… pause. I don’t know what he’s looking at. What are you looking at? Are you looking at the linesman to try to see if he’s going to bail you out? I don’t know. I’ve never seen that before.”
It was a damning assessment from one of the game’s greats—and one that speaks volumes about the current state of United’s defence. Henry wasn’t finished there, either. Rewinding to Barnes’ first goal, he called out both Yoro and Diogo Dalot for their role in letting the winger ghost in unchallenged.
“Dalot, I don’t know what he saw or what he thought was going to happen. Leny Yoro doesn’t go back and try and defend it, they’re second in everything, the desire was on Newcastle’s side. It’s just not good enough really.”
For United fans, the bigger concern isn’t just one off moment of poor decision-making—it’s that this kind of lapse has become the norm this season.