MANCHESTER UNITED are well below Arsenal in the Premier League table but have drawn level elsewhere.
United’s two strikes from free kicks in the win at Crystal Palace on Sunday upped their set-piece goals to ten – the same as Arsenal.
That accounts for nearly half of United’s 21 goals after the club was pilloried for years over their dead-ball defending and attacking.
It was a year ago on Wednesday that Ruben Amorim suffered his first defeat in charge of United at Arsenal, where both goals came from corners.
Goalkeepers Altay Bayindir and Andre Onana then conceded direct from corners in the same month in defeats to Tottenham and Wolves.
Amorim tasked assistant Carlos Fernandes with overseeing defensive and attacking set plays even though United had hired a specialist set-piece coach in Andreas Georgson. Georgson is now a member of Thomas Frank’s backroom staff at Spurs.
Amorim knew he had to adapt just weeks into his Old Trafford reign.
The United boss said: “We struggled a lot when we arrived.”
“I think we suffered a lot set pieces in our first games here. We learn with time like any other manager.
“I think we are attacking better than we are defending but when you are defending you need to take the ball out.
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“When you are attacking nowadays in the Premier League you don’t need to touch the ball, just don’t allow the defender to take the ball because the ball is going to be there for the second ball.”
Analyst Kaita Hasegawa was credited by Amorim for studying set pieces. Fernandes – ordered to stand in the technical area during a set play – scouts opponents’ routines as part of his pre-match preparation.
United have also had ample time to hone their routines amid the absence of European football from their schedule, freeing up midweeks.
It is a world away from United’s record four seasons ago. Harry Maguire’s headed opener at Leeds United in February 2022 was United’s first goal from a corner in 139 attempts.
Amorim half-joked after the Palace comeback that he had been “stealing” set-piece strategies from other clubs. Were Arsenal one of them?
He laughed: “I’m not going to tell you who we are stealing ideas from.
“It’s from everybody, a lot of smart managers doing a lot of things, specialists nowadays.
“So we try to steal from everybody.
“So of course, if you look at it with a little bit of attention to the league you understand that set pieces is massive for the game.
“Sometimes to open the game. If you score a goal you are in better conditions to win the game.”
United rose to seventh at the weekend. While the club are privately targeting a top-six finish, fifth would almost certainly secure Champions League football next term.
United ended the weekend only four points shy of neighbours City, in second, and the visit of West Ham United on Thursday night is the first of four home games from their next six.
Such is United’s struggle to string a substantial number of wins together that Amorim is reluctant to talk up their top-five chances before Christmas.
He commented: “I understand the question.
“If the table is there. If you have the opportunity. One game per week. You need to go for it.
“But then you look at the table and everyone is like two points behind. Everything can change in one week.
“To go in the position of Champions League for the next week, yes. It is realistic.
“The future I don’t know. I just want to say I want to continue near that position next week. Then the rest we will see.”
