Ruben Amorim took responsibility for Manchester United’s set-piece frailties following their 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford.
United’s defensive issues at corners were exposed again as Nikola Milenkovic headed Forest into the lead within two minutes.
It marked the third goal United have conceded from a corner in a week, following Arsenal’s two set-piece strikes in midweek.
Although Rasmus Hojlund levelled in the first half, Forest struck twice early in the second half through Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood, leaving United trailing 3-1.
Despite Bruno Fernandes reducing the deficit in the 61st minute, the visitors held firm to claim their first win at Old Trafford in 29 years.
Set-piece woes have become a recurring issue for United, with Carlos Fernandes replacing Andreas Georgson as the coach overseeing dead-ball situations. However, Forest exploited their weakness with two crosses leading to goals.
“When this happens, it’s more my fault, because I’m responsible,” Amorim admitted when asked about the set-piece problems.
“We try to do it the best way. We did a lot of work in this area because we saw it against Arsenal, and it was really hard in this context.
“The beginning of the game, you suffer in the first play. It’s really hard then to put energy in the team, but we managed to do it. We draw the game, then the second half the same thing, and you feel it in everybody—the fans, the players—it’s really hard to transmit something to continue to do your job.
“We managed to score one more but then it was more like we wanted but with not a lot of quality.”
United now find themselves in 13th place, having lost six league games already this season.
Andre Onana’s performance came under scrutiny again after he allowed Gibbs-White’s tame shot to slip past him and was also culpable for Chris Wood’s decisive goal.
Amorim, however, refused to single out Onana for criticism.
“We lost the ball in one transition and then a lot of open space and in the end they score, so all the team suffered that goal,” he said.
“Onana already saved us a lot of times, so we have to find a way when this happens to Onana or to Ty (Malacia). We have to turn around and score goals to help our goalkeeper the same way that he saved us in Ipswich.
“We lose as a team, we have to improve in all aspects.”
