Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim was “frustrated” with Joshua Zirkzee in the Red Devils’ 3-0 loss to Bournemouth over the weekend.
The Red Devils lost to goals from Deanl Huijsen, Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo as the Cherries inflicted the seventh defeat of the season in 17 Premier League matches for Man Utd.
Amorim’s side remained in 13th position in the Premier League table after failing to take any points from their clash with Andoni Iraola’s outfit.
The new Man Utd head coach has cut a frustrated figure on the touchline at times in his nine matches in charge in all competitions and Manchester Evening News reporter Tyrone Marshall spotted the Portuguese boss get particularly annoyed with Zirkzee against Bournemouth.
Marshall wrote:
“Zirkzee hardly covered himself in glory with his attempt to defend the free-kick from which Bournemouth scored, so when he jumped out of a challenge with Milos Kerkez early in the second half, it didn’t go down well on the touchline.
“Amorim jumped up and down in frustration and Zirkzee will be relieved he was on the other side of the pitch.
“It was a familiar pattern, as Diogo Dalot had already been agitated by his striker in the first half for a lack of effort in pressing from the front.
“When Zirkzee made almost no physical effort to hold off Huijsen when Onana went long early in the second half, Amorim immediately turned to Carlos Fernandes and told him to get Rasmus Hojlund ready. It felt telling.”
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Former Man Utd winger Lee Sharpe hasn’t seen much of an improvement in performances and insists it “feels pretty similar” to the football under Erik ten Hag.
Sharpe told BetMGM: “The results and performances from United have been a bit of a mixed bag so far. It feels pretty similar to how it has the past few years under Erik ten Hag. United play in 20-minute spells where you think they’ve turned the corner, and they look really good.
“However, then there are defensive errors, giving silly goals away, and allowing too many chances to be created against them.
“They are also missing chances themselves and not burying teams when they are on top which is what the best teams are so good at.
“But the team is going through a big transition, the new manager has come in and that comes along with a formation change which sees players playing in unfamiliar positions in a system they don’t understand perfectly.
“United must get used to it soon though they need to be winning games, and these excuses won’t last forever, they need to be consistent in all competitions.”
