Manchester United:
Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth manager, has paid respect to Ruben Amorim’s effect at Manchester United ahead of the Cherries’ showdown at Old Trafford on Sunday. Iraola’s squad is sixth in the table, seven places ahead of United but just three points ahead of their opponents. Amorim took over after Erik ten Hag was fired as United manager, and his tenure began with a draw against Ipswich. United has now won four games and lost three, with last weekend’s derby defeat to Manchester City followed by a League Cup loss to Tottenham.
“I think they are different,” Iraola, whose team won the matchup 3-0 the previous season, said.
Additionally, he stated during a pre-game news conference on Friday, “I think they play in a different way, different system, different approach to the games,”
“I believe they have more influence over the games. Their possession of the ball has increased, and their patterns are excellent.
“I believe they are playing really well, so it will be really challenging if we let them control the game and be the team making decisions with the ball.
“They have excellent defensive statistics and are giving up relatively few goals and opportunities.
“They already had this with ten Hag this season because they’ve signed also new defenders, good defenders, and they’ve improved from past seasons defensively overall and I think they are continuing now.”
However, United lost 4-3 after falling behind Spurs 3-0.
“I think probably they deserved more,” Iraola’s statement was. “A lot of goals but I think they had very good moments.”
However, United has been exposed in set-pieces.
“It’s true that they’ve conceded a good amount of goals from set-plays but I think they have very good defenders and a lot of the goals are very good execution from the opposition,” Iraola remarked.
“As we do each week, I hope we can successfully prepare for set plays as well. Our team isn’t the tallest. On the other hand, even though we are a small squad, I believe we are making some progress with our attacking set-plays.
Bournemouth’s most recent tie with West Ham stopped their three-game winning streak.
“We have to go step by step,” Iraola insisted. “More points are still required. Although 25 is a respectable number, the rankings show that all of the teams are quite evenly distributed, therefore we must keep attempting to gain more points.”
