Every goal Man Utd have conceded under Ruben Amorim: Two clear patterns emerge

Manchester United have conceded 17 goals in Ruben Amorim’s first nine games in charge, with two clear patterns emerging in that time.

Manchester United have had mixed form under new head coach Ruben Amorim, with five wins in his opening nine games.

There have been positives and negatives to take from these opening weeks as the 39-year-old looks to implement an entirely new system to the players.

However, while the Reds have moved to a system which should make them more defensively solid, they have been leaking goals at a concerning rate.

On that note, UtdDistrict have gone through every goal conceded in these games under Amorim to identify any patterns that have emerged.

Ipswich Town: 1-1

United were thankful to André Onana for two incredible saves, but he was left hopeless when Omari Hutchinson’s long-range strike deflected off Noussair Mazraoui and went straight into the top left-hand corner.

Bodo/Glmit: 3-2

A quick counter-attacking move eventually led to a cut-back to the edge of the box, where Håkon Evjen scored expertly into the top corner. Perhaps one of the midfielders should have been tracking his run.

Afterwards, Tyrell Malacia was burnt for pace on the flank by Philip Zinckernagel, who then finished well from a narrow angle.

Arsenal: 0-2

Of course, both goals in this game came from set-pieces. Jurriën Timber being able to score directly from the first corner left question marks over the United setup.

Mazraoui was pushed out of the way at the back post for the second, where Thomas Partey headed back across for William Saliba to score.

Neither were really individual errors, but the entire team struggling to deal with Arsenal’s physicality and know-how during their routines.

Nottingham Forest: 2-3

The opener from Nikola Milenkovic was a very simple corner, with Lisandro Martínez being outmuscled by his opponent, who scored a towering header.

Forest then took the lead through Morgan Gibbs-White, who struck low from distance, which should have been an easy save. Onana’s footing was all wrong and he made the mistake.

The third goal, and the eventual winner, came from a cross to the back post for Chris Wood. He headed towards the back post, but it should have been easily dealt with by Martínez, who made a mess of it at the back post and failed to clear.

Viktoria Plzen: 2-1

A complete mix up between Onana and Matthijs de Ligt on the ball. The goalkeeper thought the defender would step back for the bounce pass, but De Ligt wasn’t prepared for it under pressure and the ball was turned over in a dangerous position. Matej Vydra scored from the United gift.

Manchester City: 2-1

City took the lead through Josko Gvardiol after a corner routine. Kevin de Bruyne took a short corner and then his cross was deflected by Amad Diallo, but it landed perfectly to the defender who headed well into the corner.

Tottenham Hotspur: 3-4

The opener was scored by Dominic Solanke, who pounced on Altay Bayindir’s poor parry from Pedro Porro’s long range strike. Ironically, the move started from a short free-kick routine.

The second goal came early in the second half, with Martínez’s attempted clearance in the six-yard box falling perfectly to Dejan Kulusevski, who made no mistake from inside the box.

Spurs added a third after a ball in behind their defence, with Solanke bullying Martínez before producing a great finish.

The fourth and final goal for the hosts came directly from Son Heung-min’s corner, and while there were shouts of a foul, everyone can agree that Bayındır needed to be stronger.

Bournemouth: 0-3

Another set-piece goal for the opener, with a free-kick from wide finding Dean Huijsen free in the box. Joshua Zirkzee needed to challenge more with the opposition defender, who guided the ball into the far corner.

The second goal came from a poor challenge inside the box from Mazraoui, who didn’t need to go to ground. Justin Kluivert scored from the penalty spot.

Two minutes later, Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes were both sloppy in possession before an obvious cutback was not read by Martínez, and Antoine Semenyo finished well.

Two clear patterns emerge from United goals conceded

There have 17 goals conceded in these nine games and two clear patterns have emerged from United’s defensive problems.

Seven of the goals have been from set-pieces, eight if you argue that Porro’s long-range strike was the result of a free-kick routine.

Amorim has admitted that this is something that United need to improve on and it seems that everyone else has identified this as well.

Otherwise, the obvious concern is how many of these goals are avoidable mistakes from individuals. With the 10 goals conceded outside of set-pieces, seven of them were quite obvious errors from United’s defensive players.

Then, the two remaining goals are from Hutchinson and Evjen, with both of those being strikes that ended in the top corner.

United fans will not complain much if those are the type of goals they are conceding going forward, but set-pieces and clear individual mistakes appear to be the most obvious way United will concede at the moment and that is a concern.

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