Ruben Amorim admitted that Manchester United became nervous against Bournemouth from the moment they conceded a set-piece - and that the anxiety came from the stands as well as from the players.

The two sides had played out an uneventful 29 minutes until Tyrell Malacia conceded a free-kick wide on the United left. Ryan Christie's pinpoint delivery was headed home by Dean Huijsen, who easily beat Joshua Zirkzee in the air to head home in front of the Stretford End.

That was the seventh goal that United have conceded from set-pieces in their last six games, while they have shipped 17 goals in the Premier League in 2024 from set-pieces, a calendar year record in the competition.

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Amorim is aware that defending set-pieces has become an issue for his side and that as soon as they face a defensive situation, the nerves begin to spread.

"Without conceding nothing to the opponent and then one set piece makes us more nervous, all the stadium, I felt it since the first minute there’s a lot of anxiety," he said.

"That’s normal because of the context and it’s really disappointing, then create a lot of chances to score, and then again against like Tottenham they score two goals and it’s really hard and after that third goal everyone is suffering in the stadium, the fans, the players, everybody. It’s a tough moment but we have to face it and prepare for the next game."

Since his arrival in November, Amorim has handed responsibility for set-pieces to his assistant, Carlos Fernandes, despite former set-piece coach Andreas Georgson remaining on his staff.

Georgson looked after set-pieces since his appointment to Erik ten Hag's backroom staff in the summer, but there has been a change since Amorim's appointment and the head coach defended his 29-year-old assistant after the game, insisting the responsibility lay at his door rather than Fernandes'.

"The responsibility of everything is me, is not Carlos, it’s on me," he said. "We are a team, we are a team in good moments and bad moments, we have a way of doing things, we are working on that and we are going to improve on that also.

"We didn’t lose because of set pieces, we lose because we create more chances and we didn’t score and then in this moment everything against us they can score, like against Tottenham, we create chances also. It’s a difficult moment but the responsibility is me, not Carlos."