Manchester United

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim will be allowed to deal with the Marcus Rashford situation as he sees fit, with no pressure being applied from the club's hierarchy.

Amorim left Rashford out of his matchday squad for the third game in a row on Sunday.

Although Rashford said he is ready for a "new challenge", the Portuguese insists he wants the 27-year-old to remain at Old Trafford but has spoken about intensity in training and communication with team-mates as a couple of the reasons why Rashford has been exiled.

The England forward was at Old Trafford for the 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth. It remains to be seen whether he will return to the fold for the Boxing Day trip to Wolves.

Rashford is one of United's highest earners, with a salary of about £350,000 a week. This limits the number of options available should a decision be taken for the player to leave the club when the transfer window opens next month.

Paris St-Germain have already distanced themselves from speculation they are interested in Rashford, while the player is thought to be dubious about the merit of a move to the Saudi Pro League as he still has England ambitions.

As with Jadon Sancho following his fallout with Erik ten Hag 12 months ago, it is possible a loan deal could be arranged, although given the finances involved, United might have to make a contribution, which would squeeze an already tight Profit and Sustainability situation.

Nevertheless, Amorim will be allowed to deal with the matter, with chief executive Omar Berrada and co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe keen to stay away from a subject they regard as within the remit of the head coach.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Manchester United and Bournemouth.

Here are some of your comments:

United fans

Jessica: Manchester United didn't play well as a whole. The player who stood out for me was definitely Bruno Fernandes. I think United are going through one of those fazes where they aren't winning games at the minute, but I still value them and think they can do good things in the future.

Wilbert: I feel sorry for Amorin. He has inherited an average squad unfortunately. They can't string three passes together without giving it away, defending crosses is a nightmare, and they can't even hit the target when they get a chance. Good luck to him, he is going to need it!

Peter: Amorim is lost trying to put a team together for the Premier League. He keeps playing players who cannot compete for 90 minutes and he has no striker that can hold on to a ball in the team. Amad Diallo has been lucky to score, but his defending is poor. Malacia is not Premier League quality. Hojlund can't win a tackle.

John: I have said to others that we as Manchester United supporters don't deserve these performances. We need to steady the ship and play a formation that the players understand. This is possibly going against the manager's style at moment, but we get caught too easily and we need to play to our strength, which is long ball and pace with the midfield supporting.

Bournemouth fans

Charl: Excellent from the start to the finish. Kepa was outstanding. Zabarnyi was everywhere - he marshalled the defence along with Huijsen and broke up the Manchester United attack with confidence. Ouattara is not good enough at this level, and why is Brooks not starting?

Jackie: A well deserved win. Bournemouth have had their ups and downs, but now they are the best they have ever been. Amazing manager.

Ian: Excellent performance from all the Bournemouth team. They all gave 110%. Please stop piling all the blame on the Manchester United team and instead praise the Bournemouth team for a brilliant show. Thanks to all the wonderful supporters who always make up the 12th man!

Mark: Passports for Europe? More like for Champions League at this rate! Wow! Having supported Bournemouth for nearly 40 years, I still pinch myself. Soon I should start realising that, with Andoni in charge and the players we have, anything is possible. We must be strong when someone soon comes after Iraola! We love him, the players love him, and let's honest most clubs in Europe do now too.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Premier League striker Glenn Murray spoke to Match of the Day 2 about Marcus Rashford: "It's important to highlight that we don't know what is going on behind from the outside, and this is very much an opinion from the outside - but I think it's the right time for him to leave the football club.

"I think he has carried the weight of Manchester United and the supporters' expectations for too long now. I would like a new break for Rashford and see him enjoy his football elsewhere."

Watch the full episode here

Highlights and analysis from Sunday's five Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to Sunday's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Everton 0-0 Chelsea

• Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth

• Tottenham 3-6 Liverpool

Image source, Getty Images

For the first time in the Premier League, Manchester United have lost successive home games against the same opponent with a three or more goal margin (both 3-0). Across their entire club history, it is just the second time that it has happened in league competition, after defeats to Burnley in 1961 (4-1) and 1962 (5-2).

Manchester United have conceded 17 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League in 2024 - their most in a single calendar year in the competition, excluding penalties.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez has been speaking to Match of the Day about the disappointing result: "I always say that, in this kind of situation, we have to show personality and character. We are playing so well and, unfortunately, we couldn't score today.

"We have to believe. At this club, we have to win every game and we know that. We are so angry with this kind of situation.

"We have to work on set-pieces especially. I believe a lot in this team and staff. If they don't score their first goal from a set-piece, then it is a totally different game. We missed many chances today where we have to score.

"We know what we have to do and we have to change quickly.

"We know how big it is at this club. The expectation is very high - it is a process and you can see that we are playing so well, but we also concede goals and we have to work on that.

"I know the fans are impatient with us. We are the only ones who can change it. It is football and we have to accept it.

"We are 100% confident that we will get success in this club. It's a process.

"I don't want to point the finger at one player. We win together, we lose together. It is a big pressure but we love that. I believe a lot in this group."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has been speaking to BBC Match of the Day following the defeat: "It's really hard, especially if you saw the game. We concede one foul and then a goal. We were winning second balls and creating chances. We conceded a penalty and then the third goal.

"It was really hard for the fans. We have to go again next game.

"We have a lot of situations where they managed to score, a little bit similar to Tottenham. It is really hard on everyone in the stadium. We have to fight in this moment.

"We have to maintain the calm when we suffer a goal - it was similar in the last match. The players need to understand the game has different moments.

"I always expected [this job to be tough], especially in these busy months. We are ready to face the challenge."

On whether Marcus Rashford will feature on Boxing Day: "It depends. We will see."

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Manchester United's performance

What did you make of Bournemouth's display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been accused of "not reading the room" over the decision to increase ticket prices, as the anniversary of his takeover approaches.

Last month, United took the mid-season decision to raise Premier League matchday ticket prices to £66 per game, with no concessions for children or pensioners.

Across the Premier League, a growing number of supporters are unhappy with price rises, with Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool recently joining forces to protest against increases at their respective clubs.

Some will set aside the deep antipathy between United and Liverpool to highlight their concerns ahead of the two clubs' meeting at Anfield on 5 January.

This is not what was anticipated on Christmas Eve last year, when it was confirmed Ratcliffe had reached an agreement to buy part of the club from the Glazer family.

He increased his stake to 28.94% with a further $100m (£79.43m) investment this week, but his time has been marked by a succession of unpopular decisions, including slashing well-established staff perks and making 250 staff redundant.

"Everyday something else seems to be coming out," said Steve Crompton from the FC58 fans group.

"I don't think Ratcliffe is reading the room very well. For all his bravado about putting the 'Manchester' back into Manchester United, he is doing quite the opposite.

"It feels like they are putting the squeeze on us because of the mess the club is in, but he knew what a mess the club was in when he took this partnership.

"Are things worse than he realised? We are not naive. This £66 is not going to write off £1bn worth of debt. The damage he is doing, for insignificant gains financially, is bordering on the ridiculous."

United have defended the rises, saying they only affect 3% of tickets.

They also argue that cutting costs and driving up revenue will provide greater resource for the first-team, although the £21m spent on sacking manager Erik ten Hag and buying his replacement Ruben Amorim out of his contract at Sporting emphasises the huge sums being spent at that level.

Representatives of FC58 and the Spirit of Shankly Liverpool fans group will meet ahead of next month's Premier League game to finalise plans, but a joint protest is anticipated and a Football Supporters' Association '#StopExploitingLoyalty' banner is expected to be displayed.

There are five matches in the Premier League on Sunday.

• Everton v Chelsea - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Fulham v Southampton

• Leicester v Wolves

• Man Utd v Bournemouth - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Tottenham v Liverpool (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

All kick-off times 14:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all the action and reaction here

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.

For week 17, he takes on Reverend & the Makers singer Jon McClure.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

While every Manchester United fan was smiling after last weekend's derby, they are still 13th, seven places below Bournemouth in the table.

There is an awful lot of work to be done at Old Trafford and it does not sound like Marcus Rashford has the stomach for the fight.

From what he has said this week, it seems like he wants out and it feels like many United fans would say "good riddance".

The new United manager, Ruben Amorim, does not have an agenda against Rashford, but he is trying to set some standards in his first few weeks at the club.

He has made a big call, saying what he did about Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho after leaving them out of the Manchester City game, but he is entitled to do that. He has got a short-term issue of trying to win some games but also the long-term aim of setting the standards he wants from his squad.

Amorim left the carrot dangling there for both players saying that, if they apply themselves properly, they can come back into the fold - and there is nothing wrong with that, either.

That was how it worked at most clubs I played for, but Rashford has responded with this talk of needing "a new challenge". It is going to be interesting to see what happens next, and which clubs come in for him now.

Back to the game, and I was at Old Trafford in December last year when the Cherries won 3-0. I love what Andoni Iraola has done at Bournemouth and they have been great to watch this season too - they always create loads of opportunities.

While Amad Diallo has been exceptional since Amorim arrived, United remain a very average team, and I fancy Bournemouth to repeat their result from 12 months ago.

United fans get very angry whenever I predict they will lose, and can be quite bullish about it on social media - although they are usually wise after the event rather than making a call before the game like me. I wonder how confident they are feeling at the moment?

McClure's prediction: 2-0

I think United might keep it going after wining the derby.

Bournemouth are a good side, of course, but I think Amad Diallo is a real talent and United boss Ruben Amorim seems to have already worked out who the problems are in his squad.

Read the full predictions and have your say

Former Everton midfielder Aaron Lennon told 5 Live Sport it is "probably the end" for Marcus Rashford at Manchester United.

Rashford said in an interview he is "ready for a new challenge" and has been left out of the squad in their past two matches.

Image source, Getty Images

If Manchester United fail to beat Bournemouth, it will be the first time they have been in the bottom half of the table at Christmas since 1989-90 (12th).

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Bournemouth (kick-off 14:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Amorim said Marcus Rashford is available for Sunday's game, but "it is the same thing [that has seen him left out in consecutive games]."

• Midfielder Mason Mount has seen a specialist and will be sidelined for "several weeks." Amorim added: "I don't know the exact date, but it is going to be long. It is part of football and we continue."

• On Mount being injury-prone and solving it: "That is not my department. What I can do is teach him to play our game while he is recovering and to give him that time to think about different things."

• He said the schedule does not help players who are coming back from injuries as there is no time to train and "it makes it hard to recover for the games".

• Amorim said the pile up of games had a similar impact on Victor Lindelof, who was forced off against Tottenham on Thursday. The United boss added: "He was training well, recovering as he should do before a game but the game is a completely different world so they need more time to train."

• On what is going well and not so well so far: "I think we are improving near the opponent's box. We have had some games where we were without real threat but we can shoot, we are near the goal and you really feel it. It is a good thing in our team."

• He said his team are "faster, pressing more and both the physicality and the understanding of the game is improving."

• On Antony: "He needs more confidence. He is working hard and he is trying. I will help him to be a better player."

• In response to what will help him and his players: "Training. That's simple. We are rotating players and when you rotate players then it is hard to work on every connection. If you always have a different guy next to you in that position, then it is hard to work with them. If we have more time, we will use it to train the team. That's all."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Listen to live commentary of Manchester United v Bournemouth from 13:55 GMT on BBC 5 Sports Extra

Image source, PA Media

French football journalist Julien Laurens, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Euro Leagues podcast about Marcus Rashford and whether Paris St-Germain would be a realistic transfer destination for the Manchester United forward if he were to leave in January:

"I don't think so. There was contact before when Kylian Mbappe was at the club. Rashford and Mbappe are quite close. His brother, who is also his agent, travelled to Paris and met Nasser Al-Khelaifi and all the big people at the club.

"I think at the time it was maybe more to almost force the hand of Manchester United to give him a new deal, which they did eventually. But it was never going to happen back then to start with.

"Right now, especially if they let Randal Kolo Muani go, it's true that PSG would maybe get another forward.

"I just don't think that Marcus Rashford, right now, ticks the boxes that Luis Campos and Luis Enrique want."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Thursday's Carabao Cup quarter-final between Tottenham and Manchester United.

Here are some of your comments:

Spurs fans

Larry: Kamikaze football yet again. We can't keep playing this style of play when holding commanding leads in games. I know we have injuries to key players, and expecting young players to step up, but we have to learn to better manage a decent lead.

Doug: We were outstanding for the first 63 minutes, then two ridiculous pieces of goalkeeping let Man Utd back in it. Spurs were by far the best side then went to pieces after the goalkeeping errors and gave the ball away cheaply. A deserved win in the end but plenty for Ange Postecoglou to work on. Falling to pieces like that isn't acceptable.

Steve: Sometimes the result is all that matters. Both teams did their best to throw it away, Spurs just weren't as good as United at it!

Man Utd fans

Des: I understand Ruben Amorim's desire to rotate and give the whole squad a chance to impress but the starting XI was guaranteed to lose. How did Antony justify selection? Even an out-of-sorts and out-of-position Marcus Rashford would've been more productive.

Robert: Clear pattern of play and performances generally are getting there. Cut out individual errors and United will be a proper force. The referee's abysmal performance, aided by some poor individual mistakes cost us.

Ellie: Some sloppy defending and United benefited from quite comical errors from the Spurs keeper but even this loss shows some progress as against the Erik ten Hag era. Under Ten Hag we would have crumbled and lost our heads as soon as we went one down, never mind three. We are a better organised, more dynamic and more motivated team now than we were under Ten Hag.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United journalist James Young believes "there is far more of an identity" to the Red Devils under Ruben Amorim than there was under Erik ten Hag despite the Carabao Cup defeat by Tottenham on Thursday.

Having been 3-0 down at Spurs, United pulled back to within one thanks to errors by home keeper Fraser Forster before ultimately bowing out of a chaotic match with a 4-3 defeat.

Nevertheless, Young told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast the comeback showed Amorim has lit a fire in his players during his short time at the club.

"I think those 6,000 United fans who travelled down to London on a Thursday night right before Christmas who are getting back late will have seen a lot in that side," Young said. "Especially players like Amad Diallo going and chasing down the goalkeeper - we had not seen that from United for a long time under Erik ten Hag.

"There are inconsistencies in that squad, even within the same game, but I think this game came down to Spurs having a slightly better attacking threat. The problem for United is the likes of Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have not quite delivered in the same way they were expected to.

"It will take time for Amorim to get his feet properly under the desk and put his plan in place. Let's not forget these are not his players and he will need transfer windows. I don't think he knows his best team but when players come back form injury, it will help him figure out how he wants to play.

"It is getting there. There is far more of an identity with this United squad than what we saw under Ten Hag."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds