After the high of their dramatic derby victory last Sunday, Manchester United were brought back down to earth in the Premier League with a heavy home defeat against Bournemouth.
Ruben Amorim and his team have experienced wildly contrasting fortunes over the past seven days. There was euphoria as two late goals earned a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium a week ago, but now they have suffered back-to-back disappointments in exiting the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after a seven-goal thriller at Tottenham, followed by this dismantling.
United, with Marcus Rashford still absent from the matchday squad, struggled to create clear opportunities. Bournemouth took the lead when Dean Huijsen rose highest from a wide free kick to glance a header beyond Andre Onana, continuing United’s issues defending set pieces (more on that below).
The visitors doubled their lead around the hour mark after Noussair Mazraoui brought down Justin Kluivert in the area with a rash tackle and Kluivert stepped up to convert the penalty. Things got even worse for United a couple of minutes later, when Antoine Semenyo made it 3-0 with a precise finish.
This defeat leaves United 13th in the 20-team table, while Bournemouth are up to fifth.
Mark Critchley analyses the main talking points.
Bournemouth a blueprint for what United would like to be
Well-drilled in their duties, aggressive out of possession, more than the sum of their parts: Bournemouth are everything United have not been since the start of last season, everything that Amorim is trying to achieve.
This is the worst result of the new United manager’s six weeks in charge so far, but it should not come as a surprise.
Noussair Mazraoui committed himself and mistimed his tackle on Justin Kluivert (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
Some of the underlying numbers rate Andoni Iraola’s side from the south coast as the third-best team in the league this season. They had beaten Arsenal, Manchester City and Spurs already. All those victories came at their Vitality Stadium, though. This is their first ‘Big Six’ scalp away from home in 2024-25, indeed their first since exactly the same result, in the same stadium, in the same month last year.
For Bournemouth to repeat such a result shows how much progress Iraola is making in his second season there, how little has changed at United in the intervening period, and how much of a task Amorim has on his hands.
Why are United struggling to stop set-piece goals?
Another week, another goal conceded from a set piece for United. It is becoming a glaring Achilles’ heel, one that has come to the fore on Amorim’s brief watch, and undermines their out-of-possession improvements under him in open play.
In United’s defence, they have played three most effective set-piece sides in the division of late. Huijsen’s goal was Bournemouth’s seventh of the season from a deal-ball situation — the second-most in the Premier League, alongside Nottingham Forest. Only Arsenal have scored more from set pieces. That’s three of United’s past four league opponents.
But even in that context, it is hard not to question their current approach to set plays when Joshua Zirkzee — a big but not aerially dominant striker — was marking Bournemouth’s 6ft 5in (195cm) opening goalscorer.
It is nine in total conceded from set plays this season now — only third-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers have let in as many — but also five in a short spell. Huijsen’s goal here followed Josko Gvardiol scoring for City last Sunday, Nikola Milenkovic for Forest the weekend before that, and Arsenal duo Jurrien Timber and William Saliba doing so the midweek before that.
This issue needs fixing, quickly.
How do they stop the trend of conceding first?
Just as worrying as United’s pattern of conceding from set pieces should be this new-found habit of going 1-0 down. For the sixth consecutive game across three competitions, they gave themselves a mountain to climb — and this time they hadn’t packed their crampons.
You can’t climb mountains every three days anyway. Because, as spirited as those comebacks in Plzen and at the Etihad were, with plenty of fight in defeat at Tottenham on Thursday too, any team will eventually suffer if they keep giving themselves too much to do.
It’s not so much a case of starting slowly — United are not always conceding first especially early in games, having gone in at the break against Arsenal and Viktoria Plzen with the match goalless — but they are struggling to impose themselves on opponents from minute one.
It is quite a departure from the fast starts in Amorim’s opening two games against Ipswich and Bodo/Glimt. But then, even in the second of those fixtures, United were forced to come from behind.
It is another concerning trend.
What did Amorim say?
“We created a lot of chances to score,” Amorim said in his post-match press conference. “It’s really hard after that third goal. It’s like everybody is suffering in the stadium — the fans, the players, everybody. It’s a tough moment. But we have to face it and then to prepare the next game.
“We didn’t lose because of set pieces. We lost because we created more chances but we didn’t score. In this moment, everything is against us, they can score.”
What next for Manchester United?
Thursday, December 26: Wolves (A), Premier League, 5.30pm GMT, 12.30pm ET
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(Top photo: Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
