Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United reign lurched further into crisis with an emphatic and embarrassing defeat to Bournemouth that was greeted by boos from a half-empty Old Trafford. Andoni Iraola’s visitors were full value for a victory that underlined the depths to which United have sunk and the enormity of the task facing Erik ten Hag’s successor. The 3-0 win was a repeat of the result at the start of December last season and reinforced the fact that ten Hag’s dismissal has brought about no short-term gain for United.
They also still face the complications surrounding Marcus Rashford who, for a third straight game, was left out of the match day squad by Amorim for “selection” reasons. But Amorim was keen to deflect criticism from his set-piece coach, Carlos Fernandes, who has presided over a defence that has allowed seven such goals from their last six games. “The responsibility of everything is me, is not Carlos, it’s on me,” said Amorim.
“We are a team, we are a team in good moments and bad moments. “We have a way of doing things, we are working on that and we are going to improve on that also but we didn’t lose because of set pieces. “We lost because we create more chances and we didn’t score and then in this moment everything against us they can score, like against Tottenham, we create chances also.
It’s a difficult moment but the responsibility is me, not Carlos.” United fell behind just before the half-hour in depressingly familiar fashio.
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