Rúben Amorim claims Manchester United players are letting star down despite “pathetic” Southampton performance

Rúben Amorim has explained he believes Rasmus Højlund’s current struggles are down to a problem with Manchester United’s team despite his poor display against Southampton.

Rasmus Højlund’s first few games under Rúben Amorim were fantastic, with the Manchester United forward finally looking like he was finding his form at the club.

The Danish striker scored five goals in his opening five appearances under the Portuguese head coach, seemingly cementing himself ahead of Joshua Zirkzee in the starting XI.

However, he has failed to score in his eight appearances since, despite starting seven of these, and has only completed 90 minutes on one occasion since his brace against FC Viktoria Plzeň in mid-December.

Combined with Zirkzee’s recent good performances from the bench, this has prompted many to put forward the argument that, for now, Højlund should be limited to appearances as a substitute.

Amorim sees Højlund’s problems differently

Other fans have expressed their discontent for Højlund by explaining they simply feel he is not good enough to start for United, with some branding his performances against Southampton as “pathetic.”

However, speaking to the media following the performances, Amorim explained he feels Højlund is being let down by his teammates on occasion, and that his issues are more of a team problem than an individual one.

“I think it’s a team problem and you can see it,” Amorim replied when asked if he is concerned with Højlund’s lack of goals of late.

“It’s not just from now, it’s from the past. So we clearly have a lack of goals and a lack of threat. When you threaten the opponents, the opponents maybe don’t press you so high.

“So everything is connected and all the players have moments in this season. I think, when we start this journey together, Rasmus was the player that was always scoring.

“So he can come back in the next game, we will see, but I think it’s more a team problem than a Rasmus problem.”

Højlund must be protected from criticism

Højlund’s time at United has been a very similar story so far, with both seasons seeing the player score a flurry of goals in between bouts of dry spells.

Read More: Amad reveals what Rúben Amorim told him before Manchester United hattrick heroics

The Danish international took 14 Premier League appearances to score his first goal in the competition after he signed in 2023, but he countered this by becoming the youngest player in Premier League history to score six fixtures in a row.

He finished the campaign as the side’s top scorer for 2023/24 but ended the season as an impact substitute, with Bruno Fernandes preferred as a false-nine and performing in the role brilliantly during the club’s final few games last term.

After starting the majority of games under Amorim so far, Højlund should be protected in the next few weeks, and Zirkzee should be given a run of games as the club’s striker.

The Netherlands international was fantastic when he came on against Southampton, making the ball stick to his feet in a way Højlund failed to do, and was a big reason for Amad’s 12-minute hat-trick to seal the game on Thursday evening.

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