Ruben Amorim said Manchester United are in a “tough moment” after their 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday.
United have lost back-to-back games after the 4-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Thursday. It’s also two Premier League defeats in a row at Old Trafford after Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 win earlier this month.
“It’s a tough moment but we have to face it and prepare for the next game,” Amorim said at a news conference.
“It is my responsibility to coach them. Of course we want to improve. At this moment, everything is harder. For 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.”
United’s set-piece woes continued against Bournemouth, who took the lead from Dean Huijsen’s header following Ryan Christie’s free kick into the box.
Set pieces have led to United conceding seven goals in their past six games and Amorim has admitted his players need to fix the issue.
“We have to improve set pieces,” he said.
“We are working on that and we are going to improve on that also, but we didn’t lose because of set pieces. We lose because we create more chances and we didn’t score. Then, in this moment when everything is against us, they can score. One set piece makes us more nervous, all the stadium. I felt it since the first minute there’s a lot of anxiety.”
After the defeat at Spurs, Amorim was critical of his players’ game management after they conceded two goals in eight minutes at the start of the second half.
It was a similar story against Bournemouth, who scored twice in three minutes in the second half to take the game away from United and leave them in the bottom half of the table on Christmas Day for the first time since 1989.
“It’s a lot of mental but you can feel it not just the players, the fans,” Amorim said.
“In the first goal kick with André Onana, he’s thinking what to do and push the other guys and everybody is so anxious. At this moment, everybody in the club is tired of these moments.
“We have to face it and focus on the next game. We know what to do, we have to address a lot of things but we are ready to do it. We already knew that the challenge is big.”
