Ruben Amorim identifies Man Utd's major problem after star spotted in angry reaction
Ruben Amorim refuses to criticise misfiring striker Rasmus Hojlund, whose streak without finding the net now stretches to eight games across all competitions for Manchester United
by Andy Dunn · The MirrorWhen Alejandro Garnacho steered a simple chance wide in the first half of Manchester United’s win over Southampton, Rasmus Hojlund angrily kicked an upright.
His frustration might not just have been prompted by his team-mate wasting Hojlund’s fine build-up work, it was probably rooted in the striker’s own struggles.
After being given a scoring lift by Ruben Amorim’s arrival a couple of months ago, the Danish striker has failed to find the net in his last eight appearances. But Amorim consoled Hojlund by admitting Manchester United have one major problem that continues to undermine any sustained, serious charge up the Premier League table.
While Amad's remarkable, late, 12-minute hat-trick gave United a dramatic win over rock-bottom Southampton on Thursday night, the team’s goal tally is still the sixth worst in the Premier League. They have scored only 26 and have a goal difference of minus three. And despite Amad’s heroic flurry, Amorim acknowledges that his United side has a stark, fundamental issue that needs to be addressed.
He declared: “It is a team problem. You can see it, it's not just from now, it's from the past. 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 despite the relative lack of creativity in the United side, Amorim is sure Hojlund will soon return to scoring ways, saying: "All the players have moments in this season. I think when we started this journey together, Rasmus was the player that was always scoring. But he can come back in the next game, we will see. But I think it's more a team problem than a Rasmus problem."
With United making progress in the FA Cup and in the Europa League, Amorim knows a hectic schedule of matches will mean he has little time to work on new ideas on the training ground. And that is why he expects the inconsistency that has characterised his first couple of months in charge to continue.
“I think it's going to be hard until the end of the season,” said Amorim, whose team entertains Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday before welcoming Rangers to Old Trafford on Thursday. “It's going to be a little bit of a rollercoaster, because it depends on the time you have to train.
“We are still in the (FA) Cup and we have UEFA games in the Europa League, when it's important also to focus on next Thursday (against Rangers), to win and to try to be in that top eight. In that way you can take two games from the schedule (avoid being in a play-off), and have a full week of training, so we are trying to do everything at the same time.
"We've had seven training sessions together in 14, 15 games. It's really hard, but we have to continue and try to win. Sometimes playing good, sometimes playing bad. But we will try to win games."
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