Ruben Amorim defends Rasmus Hojlund after frustrated forward’s goal drought hits eight games – as Man United boss admits a ‘team problem’

Ruben Amorim has leapt to Rasmus Hojlund’s defence after the Manchester United striker saw his goal drought stretch to eight games in the dramatic win over Southampton.

While Amad Diallo overtook Alejandro Garnacho as United’s leading scorer on nine goals with a late hat-trick against Saints at Old Trafford, Hojlund is stuck on seven with Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford.

The £72million striker hasn’t scored since grabbing a brace against Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League in mid-December, and cut a frustrated figure when he was taken off in the 53rd minute on Thursday night.

Rather than point the finger at Hojlund individually, however, Amorim believes United’s inability to break down teams is to blame.

‘I think it’s more a team problem than a Rasmus problem,’ said United’s head coach. ‘You can see it, it’s not just from now, it’s from the past. So we have clearly 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.

Hojlund cut a frustrated figure when he was taken off in the 53rd minute against Southampton

Amorim also admitted midfielder Manuel Ugarte was tired after two games in quick succession

‘All the players have moments in this season. I think when we started this journey together, Rasmus was the player that was always scoring. He can come back in the next game. We will see.’

Amorim also defended Manuel Ugarte after admitting that the Uruguay midfielder was tired against Southampton. Having been one of United’s better players in the Premier League draw at Liverpool and FA Cup win at Arsenal, Ugarte scored an own-goal and struggled before he was substituted at the same time as Hojlund.

Amorim has previously said that the £50m summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain has trouble recovering in time if United have two games in quick succession.

‘Mateus (Fernandes) was creating a lot of problems for Manu with the No.7 (Joe Aribo),’ explained Amorim. ‘Because Manu was running against two guys, it’s more my fault than his fault. He’s going to get used to playing every three days.

‘Ugarte was tired because he did a great job against Liverpool. If you look at the game against Arsenal, maybe Ugarte and Bruno were the best players against Liverpool. I think that happens with all players in the Premier League. They can play, but they don’t play the same way.’