“Nervous” Man United caught cold by Bournemouth as Ruben Amorim suffers heaviest defeat as Man United manager.
“Nervous” Man United were caught napping by visitors Bournemouth, according to manager Ruben Amorim.
Nearly a year after the first loss, the home loss to Bournemouth was the second consecutive one by that scoreline. At a set play, United fell behind for the seventh goal they had given up in the last six games.
The defeat leaves the Red Devils languishing in 13th place on the points table. It is the firs time since 1989-90 that United find themselves in the bottom half of the table during the festive period.
Amorim said: “This game was hard on us. We suffered again on set pieces and we were a little bit nervous – also the stadium at the beginning of the game, I felt it … It’s a lot of mental [nervousness]: you can feel it not just with the players, the fans too.
“I felt it from the first minute, there’s a lot of anxiety; that’s normal because of the context [needing to win] and it’s really disappointing. It’s a tough moment but we have to face it and prepare for the next game.”
The first goal came from a free kick that Dean Huijsen was left unmarked at in the 29th minute. This happened after Carlos Fernandes, the assistant coach, drilled United in set piece defence prior to kickoff. Amorim was asked if he would coach set pieces instead of Fernandes.
“It is my responsibility to coach them, not Carlos – it is all on me,” he said. “Of course we want to improve. In this moment, everything is so much harder – 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 and I understand that, but we have to face it. We know what to do. We have to improve set pieces. I think we are not giving the ball away as much as we did. We control the game better, we don’t concede a lot of spaces, transitions, we control very well against one team who score 60% of their goals when the ball is in [the opponents’] half.”