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Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has assumed responsibility for the club’s weaknesses from set-pieces.
This is after United conceded yet again from a set-piece, this time in a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon at Old Trafford.
Dean Huijsen, Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo found the back of the net to doom United to a second consecutive defeat across all competitions.
Even more concerning, the Red Devils conceded from a set piece for the seventh time in their last six games.
In his interview with BBC Match of the Day, Lisandro Martinez identified the team’s struggles with defending set pieces as the key factor behind their loss to the Cherries.
Amorim spoke to journalists in his post-match presser and was asked about his assistant Carlos Fernandes, who is also the team’s set-piece coach.
The United boss refused to slam Fernandes, instead choosing to direct the criticism towards himself.
“The responsibility of everything is me, is not Carlos (Fernandes), it’s on me.”
On United’s performance and the disappointing result, Amorim said, “It’s a lot of mental but you can feel it not just the players but the fans. In the first goal kick with Andre 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 aready knew that the challenge is big, it’s really tough on the fans, the players, that they are losing 2-0 at home so they want to score two goals.”
“You have more possession, you create more chances. We concede less chances so you are defending but of course the result says a different thing.”
“But you are defending better than the opponent because you concede less opportunities, you are creating more, so you are attacking more. But in the last moment, we don’t score and the result says different things. Like I said, it’s really hard, we have to address that. We are suffering a lot of goals, creating chances but not scoring so we have to address that.”
The 39-year-old added, “It’s my responsibility to coach them…of course we want to improve. In this moment, everything is so hard. 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 in the first play and I understand that, but we have to face it. We know what to do.”
He further stated about defending set pieces, “We have to improve set pieces. I think we are not giving the ball away as much as we do, we control better the game, we don’t concede a lot of spaces, transitions we control very well against one team that’s 60% of the goals they score when the ball is in our half.”
“We managed to do that but then in the set pieces, one penalty and that moment where we have to forget the context, everything, keep the ball for a moment and not try and score two goals right away.”
“It’s a really tough moment and we have to understand what the players are thinking at that moment when you suffer a 2-0, when you make a penalty, when the box is controlled, we have to address that. It’s really tough for everybody to lose these types of games.”
United are back in action on Boxing Day when they travel to Molineux Stadium to face Wolverhampton Wanderers, who beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City 3-0 earlier today.
Featured image Nathan Stirk via Getty Images
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