Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already voiced his concern at the amount of money United have spent on players who are not contributing to the cause.
Zirkzee, a £36.5m signing from Bologna in July 2024, is one of quite a few examples.
Wolves boss Rob Edwards said afterwards he mentioned the negativity in the stands to his players at half-time.
There has been a lot of that at Molineux this season, so he knows how damaging it can be.
"Everyone turned up expecting a win, maybe a comfortable one, and it wasn't that," he said.
Although Amorim stated he would not use the absence of key players as an excuse, he did reel off the names and said it explained a lot.
"We are in a situation where a lot of players are out at the same time," he said.
"Of course, when you play Casemiro and [Manuel] Ugarte in the middle, you know that is different to when you have Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount or Bruno [Fernandes]. That is normal.
"So, we just need to recover our players and the [other] players to return from Afcon then the fluidity is going to be different.
"Today, we could win but we had a lack of fluidity, a lack of quality and a lack of creation of chances. Then we suffered a goal with a set-piece. These details are important to win games in difficult moments."
It feels more fundamental. As Martinez said, better is expected.
As 2026 dawns, it does feel that how United do in the winter transfer window will determine whether they will retain any hope of qualifying for the Champions League.