MANCHESTER, England — Ruben Amorim wasn’t kidding when he said, “The storm will come.” Marcus Rashford, set pieces, missed chances, conceding the first goal in games — Manchester United’s head coach can pick and choose his problems at the moment.

His biggest concern will be the results. And after going 18 months without a league home defeat at the end of his spell at Sporting CP, he has now suffered two Premier League defeats in three weeks at Old Trafford. After Nottingham Forest won here in early December, AFC Bournemouth compounded Amorim’s problems with a 3-0 win on Sunday.

This was perhaps more damaging than the Forest defeat, with United still searching for an equalizer late in the game against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side after staging something of a comeback. But against Bournemouth there was little reaction and the game ended with the fans, who had made the 4½-hour journey from the south coast, chanting “Olé” with every completed pass.

When the final whistle blew it was greeted with boos from the home fans, while those traveling with them chanted: “Manchester United, it’s happened again.” It was in December last year when Bournemouth came to Old Trafford and won 3-0 won.

“I felt from the first minute that there was a lot of fear,” said Amorim after the game. “Everyone in the stadium is suffering. The fans, the players, everyone. It’s a tough moment, but we have to face it and prepare for the next game.”

“It is my responsibility to train them. Of course we want to improve. Everything is so difficult at the moment, a club like Manchester United losing 3-0 at home. It’s really hard for everyone. And of course it’s the fans.” Really disappointed and tired. You can feel that in the stadium.

United started with a chance to secure back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time this season after winning at Manchester City a week ago. But if the dramatic comeback at the Etihad lifted spirits, then Amorim and his players were brought back down to earth with a bang with two defeats against Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth in four days. Spurs scored twice from set pieces in their 4-3 Carabao Cup win on Thursday and Bournemouth needed less than 30 minutes to do the same here.

United will be unhappy with referee Craig Pawson’s decision to award a free-kick for Tyrell Malacia’s foul on Adam Smith, but there is little excuse for what happened next; Ryan Christie hit a cross into the box and Dean Huijsen went ahead of Joshua Zirkzee and headed past André Onana.

It becomes a big problem for Amorim and his set-piece coach Carlos Fernandes to solve. Bournemouth’s opener was the seventh goal United have conceded on or immediately after a set-piece in their last six games. For the calendar year there are up to 17.

“We are working on it and will improve it,” Amorim said when asked about this damning statistic. “But we didn’t lose because of set pieces. We lose because we created more chances and didn’t score any goals, and then at that moment everything is against us and they can score. Like against Tottenham, we also create chances. It’s a difficult moment.”

Huijsen’s header also meant United were 1-0 down for the sixth game in a row. The same thing happened with Tottenham, who then scored two goals in eight minutes in the second half and quickly increased the score from 1-0 to 3-0. It was similar against Bournemouth.

At the end of the first half, the visitors survived a period of pressure from United in which Bruno Fernandes missed a number of good chances. But having done as Spurs did, Bournemouth scored twice in a matter of minutes in the second half and a game in which United were still 1-0 down was suddenly out of reach.

As with set pieces, it’s a problem that won’t go away. Under Amorim, United have conceded two goals in 20 minutes against Arsenal, two in seven minutes against Forest, two in eight minutes against Tottenham and two in three minutes against Bournemouth.

Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola said afterwards that the two quick goals made the result look more comfortable than it was, particularly mentioning the performance of on-loan goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

“It was flatter than it looks,” he said. “Kepa’s performance helped us win like this. Last season the game was much more open. That was more mature.”

Iraola’s assessment will be of little consolation to Amorim, who has lost four of his last six games after replacing Erik ten Hag in November.

United will be in the bottom half of the table on Christmas Day for the first time since 1989, with tricky games against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United ahead of the end of 2024.

As Amorim sat in the press conference room at Old Trafford, trying his best to analyze the defeat to Bournemouth, the roof began to leak. It summed up the ever-growing list of problems facing the United manager as the reality of the job he has taken on becomes ever more bitter. The storm is here.