Soccer-Man United boss Amorim bears brunt of ugly 3-0 loss to Bournemouth

By Lori Ewing

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim took responsibility for his team's undoing in a depressing 3-0 loss to Bournemouth on Sunday that saw thousands of frustrated fans head to the exits well before the final whistle.

Dean Huijsen, Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo scored to keep United 13th in the table, the first time they have been in the bottom half at Christmas in Premier League history.

"It is my responsibility to coach them," Amorim said.

"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, and I understand that, but we have to face it."

Conceding from set pieces has become a theme of United's woeful season and the issue reared its head again on Sunday when Huijsen headed home from a corner kick in the 29th minute.

It was the 17th goal that United have conceded from set pieces in the Premier League in 2024, the most by them in a single calendar year in the league's 32-year history.

"Without conceding nothing to the opponent, and then one set piece makes us more nervous, all the stadium, I felt it since the first minute. There's a lot of anxiety, that's normal because of the context and it's really disappointing," Amorim said.

United had 23 shots to Bournemouth's 10, but simply could not finish, with captain Bruno Fernandes firing a flurry of shots just wide of the net late in the first half alone.

Amorim said the team's struggles are "a lot of mental."

"You can feel it, not just the players, the fans ... this moment, everybody in the club is tired of these moments," he said. "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."

The Portuguese left Marcus Rashford out of the squad for the third successive game, with talk swirling that the forward might not be long for the team.

"I want to see the best of my players," Amorim said of the decision. "And then I try different things with different players, so that is my focus."

(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)