Ruben Amorim has admitted Manchester United’s players were nervous on Sunday during their 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth, which left the club 13th and in the bottom half on Christmas Day for the first time since 1989.
The defeat was a second in a row by that scoreline at home against Bournemouth, almost exactly a year after the first. United went behind to the seventh goal they have conceded in the past six games at a set play.
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.”
Dean Huijsen’s 29th-minute opener derived from a free-kick at which he was left unmarked. This occurred after United were drilled before kick-off by the assistant coach Carlos Fernandes in defending set pieces. Amorim was asked whether he might replace Fernandes in coaching set pieces.
“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.”
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But Bournemouth’s second and third goals came in quick succession, Justin Kluivert’s 61st-minute penalty being followed by Antoine Semenyo’s strike two minutes later. Amorim referenced his players’ reaction to going 2-0 down. “Keep the ball for a moment and not try to score two goals right away. It’s a really tough moment and we have to understand that – what the players are thinking in that moment … We have to address that.”
