Rob Dawson, CorrespondentDec 22, 2024, 06:00 PM
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MANCHESTER, England -- Ruben Amorim wasn't kidding when he said "the storm will come." Marcus Rashford, set pieces, missed chances, conceding the first goal in games -- the Manchester United head coach can take his pick of problems at the moment.
His biggest worry will be results. And after going 18 months without a home league defeat at the end of his Sporting CP reign, he's now suffered two Premier League losses in three weeks at Old Trafford. After Nottingham Forest won here at the start of December, AFC Bournemouth added to Amorim's woes with a 3-0 victory of their own on Sunday.
This was perhaps more damaging than the Forest defeat, when United were still in the hunt for an equaliser late in the game against Nuno Espirito Santo's side after mounting something resembling a comeback. But there was very little response against Bournemouth and the game ended with the supporters who made the four-and-a-half-hour journey from the south coast shouting "Olé" with every completed pass.
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When the final whistle went, it was greeted with boos from the home supporters while the travelling fans sang: "Manchester United, it's happened again." It was in December last year that Bournemouth came to Old Trafford and won 3-0.
"I felt it since the first minute there's a lot of anxiety," Amorim said postmatch. "Everyone is suffering in the stadium. The fans, the players, everybody. It's a tough moment but we have to face it and prepare for the next game.
"It is my responsibility to coach them. Of course we want to improve. In this moment, everything is so hard, a club like Manchester United to lose 3-0 at home. It's really tough for everybody. And of course the fans are really disappointed and tired. You can feel it in the stadium."
United kicked off with the chance of claiming consecutive Premier League victories for the first time this season, having won at Manchester City a week ago. But if the dramatic comeback at the Etihad lifted the mood then Amorim and his players have been brought back to earth with a bang with back-to-back defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth in the space of four days. Spurs scored twice from set pieces in their 4-3 win in the Carabao Cup on Thursday and it took Bournemouth less than 30 minutes to do the same here.
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has lost four of his nine matches since taking over at Old Trafford. EPA
United will be unhappy at referee Craig Pawson's decision to award a free kick for Tyrell Malacia's challenge on Adam Smith, but there is little excuse for what happened next; Ryan Christie floated a cross into the box and Dean Huijsen got in front of Joshua Zirkzee to head past André Onana.
It's becoming a major issue for Amorim and his set-piece coach, Carlos Fernandes, to solve. Bournemouth's opener was the seventh goal United have conceded directly from or immediately after a set piece in the last six games. It's up to 17 for the calendar year.
"We are working on that and we are going to improve on that," said Amorim when asked about that damning statistic. "But we didn't lose because of set pieces. We lose because we create more chances and we didn't score and then in this moment everything is against us and they can score. Like against Tottenham, we create chances also. It's a difficult moment."
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Huijsen's header also meant United went 1-0 down for the sixth game in a row. The same thing happened at Tottenham, who then scored twice in eight minutes in the second half as it went from 1-0 to 3-0 in the blink of an eye. It was similar against Bournemouth.
The visitors weathered a period of United pressure at the end of the first half during which Bruno Fernandes missed a number of good chances. But having done that, like Spurs, Bournemouth scored twice in a matter of minutes in the second half and a game which United were still in at 1-0 down was suddenly out of reach.
Like set pieces, it's an issue which won't go away. Under Amorim, United have conceded two in 20 minutes against Arsenal, two in seven minutes against Forest, two in eight minutes against Tottenham and two in three minutes against Bournemouth.
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola said afterward that the two quick goals made the scoreline look more comfortable than it was and gave special mention to the performance of on-loan goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
"It was more level than it looks," he said. "Kepa's performance has helped us to win like this. Last season, the game was much more open. This was more mature."
Iraola's assessment will be little consolation to Amorim, who has lost four of his last six games after replacing Erik ten Hag in November.
United will be in the bottom half of the table on Christmas Day for the first time since 1989 with tricky games against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United to come before the end of 2024.
As Amorim sat in the news conference theatre at Old Trafford trying his best to dissect the defeat to Bournemouth, the roof began to leak. It summed up the growing list of problems facing United's head coach as the reality of the job he's taken on begins to bite. The storm is here.