Amorim’s first Man Utd signing has made a NIGHTMARE Old Trafford start

Robin Bairner

• 7 Dec 2024 20:37 GMT
• 4 min read

Ruben Amorim’s spell as Manchester United head coach will be defined by the signings that are made to strengthen his team – yet on this front, the Portuguese has made an inauspicious start.

United were defeated 3-2 at home by Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday, with the Red Devils once again proving vulnerable from crosses. Their guests scored two headers.

In midweek, they had been defeated 2-0 at Arsenal, with the Gunners netting twice following corner kicks.

Forest’s opener through Nikola Milenkovic also arrived from this situation, throwing early scrutiny onto Amorim’s decision to appoint a new set-piece coach at Old Trafford.

Andreas Georgson, who was hired in the summer, has been pushed to the side, with Carlos Fernandes now the man in charge of defensive set-pieces.

“The thinking is Carlos is responsible for set pieces, different stuff,” the head coach revealed in midweek.

Man Utd's defensive failings

Amorim excused United’s failure to stop Arsenal as a result of the “big players” the Gunners have in their ranks, and while Forest pose a similar type of threat, there have to be major concerns that the Red Devils have already conceded three times from corners since Fernandes took command.

Forest’s opener at Old Trafford was dissected by former Man Utd defender Phil Jones and pundit Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports, and neither was impressed with the way the goal was defended.

“What I would say is they’re 10 vs 6 in the box. If you’re playing a game like that, the six shouldn’t score,” Jones said.

“Lisandro Martinez is too fixated on stopping Milenkovic from scoring. His body shape is wrong. Diogo Dalot gets dragged under the ball a little bit. We’re talking about fine margins, but at this level, it matters.

“Martinez should be more aggressive and stop him from getting the run.”

Redknapp added: “Martinez gets bullied, let’s be honest. Milenkovic is probably thinking: ‘This is my lucky day, I’m too bug, too powerful and too strong for you.’

“Dalot I don’t like in that position. He’s not aggressive enough to win the ball.”

Jones chipped in with a potential solution.

“Perhaps if you had Dalot as your third centre-back, so you’ve got your two main headerers to go and attack the ball. The ball’s going to be in the air far longer for an outswinger to the back post so if it is Diogo Dalot, he’s got enough time to cover round.”

But there was more than just one issue on the corner from which Milenkovic scored, as Redknapp pointed out.

“This doesn’t work for me. There are two players in the Premier League you don’t want to mark. One is Gabriel from set pieces and the other is Chris Wood. Manuel Ugarte is up against Chris Wood. If the ball comes in there, it’s a mismatch and it’s a goal,” he said.

“So there’s nobody really in this situation taking control. They’re getting it wrong, not just there.”

Amorim insisted on Fernandes’ arrival at Man Utd, but so far the move to bring in a new set-piece coach simply isn’t working.