Man Utd finally proved they can play 'inspiring' football under Ruben Amorim in roller coaster Bournemouth draw - but entertainment can't mask Red Devils' dreadful home form

"It was almost a throwback to Alex Ferguson's Manchester United with attacking football," said Carragher on Sky Sports of the end-to-end drama. "It is the best I have seen Man United. For the majority of the game, they were absolutely fantastic. For the first time under Amorim - and first time in a long time - I felt like I was watching what Man Utd are supposed to be. Wave after wave attack..."

Gary Neville called it "absolute madness" and was pleased to see a United team "you can recognise". Amorim, meanwhile, felt he was watching the same United team he had watched from afar when growing up in Portugal and as a player. "If you follow the club like I follow the Premier League for so long, you [know you] have not just the duty to try to win the games.

"The way you try to win the games is so important for the fans. Of course they are desperate to win, but also, I feel that they are desperate to be inspired when they come to Old Trafford. Today was inspiring."

But the end result, a 4-4 draw due to Junior Krupi's equaliser, was far from inspiring. And it might have been a defeat were it not for Senne Lammen's brilliant two saves from David Brooks. Bournemouth had failed to win any of their last six Premier League game and were 15th in the table at kick off.

Their two best forwards, Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson, were on long goal droughts, stretching as far back as early October and late August respectively. They found the net again thanks to United's naive defending.

At full-time, United's players looked far from inspired. They looked devastated, as if they had just lost a cup final rather than merely drawn a league game. And Bruno Fernandes, who had driven the frantic fightback and set up Casemiro's goal to make it seven goal involvements in his last four games, had a face of thunder.

Strip away the madness of Monday's match and United are in a sobering situation. They have taken just two points from their last three home games against Bournemouth, West Ham and Everton. A team with top-four ambitions like United need to be taking maximum points from such a set of fixtures.

Bournemouth had lost their previous three away games, West Ham are in the relegation zone and Everton had 10 men for 77 minutes of their 1-0 raid of Old Trafford, taking the lead after Idrissa Gueye had been sent off.

This was the fourth match in seven where United have squandered a lead, the third time in that sequence where they had let in a crucial goal later than the 80th minute. If they had just been able to hold onto their advantages against West Ham and Bournemouth alone, they would be fourth in the Premier League table. Instead they are sixth.

An optimist would say that they are just two points behind the top four and the coveted Champions League spots. A pessimist might instead point to how ridiculously tight this Premier League season is, with only eight points separating Chelsea in fourth and Brentford in 15th.

The door to the top four and Champions League football is wide open and all United need to do is walk through it. Instead, they keep on banging their head against it. 

United have been absent from Europe's money-spinning top competition for two seasons and missing out once more is unthinkable, especially after the club posted record debt levels last week and are spending more than ever on a rolling credit facility to fund their transfers.

Amorim did not shy away from the fact that his side should have won. "Really disappointing" was how he described the draw, cursing his side's inability to make more of their many first-half chances and for squandering the lead three times.

"It might look like we lost the two points in the second half but I think we lost them in the first half," he explained. "We dominated and created so many chances. We had to go to half-time with a different result. In the end we deserved more."

Amorim has used the word 'deserve' repeatedly this season but football is a cruel sport and you don't always get what you deserve. But the coach alone is responsible for the latest run of dreadful home results and the fixtures are about to get much tougher as the squad gets more depleted.

Amorim's side will be severely weakened by the month-long absences of Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo and Noussair Mazraoui due to the African Cup of Nations. Mbeumo and Amad, who were given special dispensation by their nations to play on Monday, have been brilliant all season and Benjamin Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee do not feel like apt replacements.

The continued absence of Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire, who are unlikely to be back to face Villa, is an equally big concern as it leaves the team looking to the inexperienced and error-prone Ayden Heaven until Lisandro Martinez is deemed fit enough to start games.

They visit third-placed Aston Villa, who have beaten Arsenal and Manchester City this season and have won their last nine matches in all competitions, in their next game and then on Boxing Day host Newcastle, who outplayed United at Old Trafford last season. 

Their final game of 2025, at home to Wolves, should at least be a guarantee of three points. But as Monday's wonderful yet infuriating game showed, nothing is guaranteed with United these days.