COULD life at Manchester United get any more dispiriting?
They have just lost 3-0 at home to “little” Bournemouth, as described by Cherries owner Bill Foley, for the second season running, a result that means they will spend Christmas 13th in the table. It is the first time they have been in the bottom half at this stage since the pre-Premier League days.
Their fans – who booed Ruben Amorim’s team off at the final whistle – are so upset at the imposition of a ticket price rise to a flat £66 with no concessions that they are joining forces with fellow supporters at bitter rivals Liverpool to protest when the two sides meet at Anfield on 5 January.
Just as Amorim was telling the media he felt fans were “tired” in his post-match press conference, a leak from the ceiling led to water running onto journalists on the front row, forcing one of them to move.
While many fans will be quite happy to learn of journalists covering their club getting a soaking, as a public farce it takes some beating.
But for Amorim, United’s position is no laughing matter. Defender Lisandro Martinez told Match of the Day the on-field situation makes him “angry”. His boss has to find some answers.
“In this moment, everything is so hard,” said Amorim. “At a club like Manchester United, to lose 3-0 at home, it’s really tough for everybody.
“Of course the fans are really disappointed and tired. You can feel it in the stadium in the first play. At the first goal-kick with Andre Onana, he’s thinking what to do and pushing the other guys and everybody is so anxious.
“I understand that, but we have to face it.”
If there is a significant difference introduced by the Portuguese in the short time since he replaced Erik ten Hag last month, it is that United have more control in matches.
Their possession stats are high, with 60% today. United had more shots and more shots on target than Bournemouth. But they lost, badly, again.
For only the second time in their history – the other being against Burnley in the 1960s – they have lost successive home games against the same opposition by a three-goal margin.
It would help significantly if they didn’t keep conceding goals at set-pieces.
It happened twice at Arsenal earlier this month and against Nottingham Forest in their last home game. At Tottenham on Thursday, Son Heung-min scored direct from a corner. Bournemouth managed it in the first half, even though manager Andoni Iraola admitted afterwards his is “not a tall team”.
Nevertheless, when Ryan Christie floated over a free-kick from the right touchline, teenage defender Dean Huijsen easily shrugged off the attentions of Joshua Zirkzee and flicked a header into the far corner.
They were not all under Amorim’s watch, clearly, but United have now conceded 17 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League in 2024, their most in a single calendar year in the competition.
The recent mishaps do beg the question, what is set piece coach Carlos Fernandes, who accompanied Amorim from Sporting, actually doing?
Not that Amorim is apportioning blame.
“The responsibility is on me, not Carlos,” he said.
“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. But we didn’t lose because of set pieces. We lost because we create more chances and didn’t score.”
Speaking to Match of the Day, Martinez put it rather more bluntly.
“We are so angry with this kind of situation,” said the Argentina defender. “We have to work on set-pieces especially.
“I believe a lot in this team and staff. If they don’t score their first goal from a set-piece then it is a totally different game.”
Amorim is hampered by a lack of quality.
The Portuguese trusted Tyrell Malacia with the left wing-back role, but took the Dutchman off at half-time having watched him give the ball away too cheaply on too many occasions and not really offer anything going forward.
Diogo Dalot switched sides, but his one goal threat lacked conviction. Noussair Mazraoui moved to left wing-back from his position in a three-man defence, but was drawn into the rash tackle on Justin Kluivert which allowed the forward to double Bournemouth’s lead from the penalty spot.
Further forward, only skipper Bruno Fernandes was a danger to the Bournemouth goal, with Marcus Rashford omitted for the third successive game, although he was at Old Trafford to watch the sorry events unfold.
“It depends, we will see,” said Amorim when asked if the England forward might come into contention for the Boxing Day trip to Wolves.