Set pieces problem my fault, says Amorim after United’s latest loss to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford yesterday.
Set pieces are becoming Manchester United’s bane this season. After being thoroughly overpowered by Arsenal with set pieces midweek, they suffered the same fate against Nottingham Forest.
After Manchester United gave up Nottingham Forest’s first goal from a corner in the visitors’ 3-2 victory at Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim refused to point the finger at his defence, insisting it was “my fault.”
The defender was not challenged by Lisandro Martínez or Matthijs de Ligt, and United’s goalkeeper, André Onana, remained still until Nikola Milenkovic’s header in the second minute.
In Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to United, both of Arsenal’s goals also came from corners. Amorim was reminded that Milenkovic’s goal was the third straight from the set piece that had been allowed. The manager was questioned about who was to blame: himself, his coaches, or the defence.
He said: “When this happens it is more my fault because I am responsible.
“We try to do it in the best way – we do a lot of work in this area and we saw it in Arsenal [too]. It is really hard in this context [to come back], we suffer in the first play, it is really hard to put energy back into the game, but we did it [by equalising]. It is really hard to transmit something, for them to continue to do their job. We managed to score one goal.”
With two losses, a win, and a draw, Amorim has a four-point Premier League record. The 39-year-old was questioned about how he would respond to his recent poor play after losing a home league game against Sporting Lisbon in February 2023.
“I had this and worse in Sporting in the beginning,” Amorim said. “The feeling for me is the same but for the world it’s completely different. You know Sporting in Portugal. But Manchester [United] has a lot of attention [globally] but for me it’s the same feeling.
“I had this period at Sporting and if you are a little experienced in football this happens with a lot of clubs and we have to manage to continue to do the same things and improve the team because this will turn around. We need time and to continue to work in the same way every day.
“We already knew [it would be tough]. It will be a long journey but we want to win because this is a massive club. You feel it, when you lose one game it’s really hard for everybody. I can understand that. I can feel it in the stadium after the first goal. We understand the context but we have to keep doing the same things. The same words I have with Everton [after winning 4-0], I have today: focus on the performance. We need to improve in a lot of aspects of the game and continue to do the same things tomorrow in training.”