Man Utd news: Ruben Amorim’s Christmas spoiled as Red Devils thrashed by Bournemouth

Bournemouth thrashed Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford for the second year running to spoil Ruben Amorim’s first Christmas in charge of the Red Devils.

Higher in the table, unbeaten in four in the league, and on a week's rest, Andoni Iraola’s side were given 10/3 odds for the win prior to the match, and that proved prophetic.

In the end, it was a familiar tale of what could have been for United, as their latest festive footballing fumble means they will now spend Christmas in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1989.

Sports News Blitz writer Robert Bore reports on the damaging loss to the Cherries.

United’s bright start undone by poor defending

Amad Diallo had the first real chance of the game after a lively start, but he did not connect with the ball properly and Kepa gobbled it up comfortably.

Slack play from Tyrell Malacia then gifted Antoine Semenyo with a half chance that the returning Andre Onana dealt with comfortably.

At the other end, Bruno Fernandes tried his luck from range to no avail.

It quickly became apparent, though, why the visitors are doing so well this season, with their sharp and snappy play creating trouble for Amorim’s disorganised charges.

And the opener duly came by way of a set piece.

Malacia was penalised, perhaps harshly judging by the replay, and Ryan Christie floated the resulting free-kick towards the far post where Dean Huijsen glanced the ball in entirely unopposed before offering the crowd a cheeky celebration.

Evanilson also tried his luck for the visitors soon after, but Onana was alive to the effort as United scrambled to stay in the contest.

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Hosts push for equaliser

Fernandes was on hand for United's best chances of the first half, blasting a central free kick into the wall before hooking a shot wide from the edge of the box on the back of good work by Amad.

As the pressure grew, Huijsen almost nodded into his own net and it felt like the hosts could nick a leveller before the break.

It was not to be, however, leading Amorim to shake things up at the break by replacing Malacia with summer signing Leny Yoro.

Yet, Bournemouth continued to dictate proceedings and fashion chances, one of which Semenyo skied when he should have at least hit the target.

With the desired spark clearly not there against a team sitting pretty in the top half of the Premier League table, Amorim made more changes, bringing on Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho for Manuel Ugarte and the ineffective Joshua Zirkzee.

United subsequently looked much better as Lewis Cook did well to sweep Amad's dangerous corner from under his own bar and Dalot headed tamely over the goal after some promising build-up play.

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Double strike buries profligate Red Devils

Unfortunately for United, cometh the hour, cometh the second.

The usually reliable Noussair Mazraoui was the main culprit this time, undone by Justin Kluivert's clever dart into the box and forced into a late lunge that took out the Dutchman rather than the ball.

Kluivert picked himself up to nonchalantly double the lead, and things suddenly looked dire for the hosts.

Yet, it was to get much worse soon after.

United failed to contain the ball in midfield and the Cherries broke. By the time Dango Ouattara cut the ball back to Semenyo, who started the move, the Ghanaian had a simple task in sliding the ball past Onana.

Incredibly, Bournemouth were three up at Old Trafford for the second season in a row.

To their credit, Amorim's men kept pushing, with Garnacho, Hojlund, and Amad all missing in frustrating fashion as the match fizzled out for the hosts.

Sloppy defending and profligacy in front of goal are cruel bedfellows, it must be said.

Much work to be done for Amorim

Looking back on the game, the statistics tell their own story.

United had 23 shots in the game, comfortably above their season average of 15 in the league, and their xG was 2.26 in comparison to Bournemouth's 1.24.

However, as the purists will tell you, goals win games rather than shots or fancy statistics. And the Red Devils simply cannot seem to keep them out or score them with any level of consistency at the moment.

Indeed, as their struggles persist, the ghosts of United's illustrious past continue to haunt them.

Whether or not Amorim can provide them with a future remains to be seen, but the present is nothing less than a horror story for United.

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