Manchester United suffered their first loss under Ruben Amorim against Arsenal on Wednesday evening.
The travelling team started the game on a relatively positive note, gaining control of the game in the first half and looking fairly solid overall. Despite not being able to break down the compact gunners' defence, Man United went into halftime as arguably the better side as the score remained goalless on both ends.
However, from the time the whistle blew for the second half to commence, the game started slowly crawling towards Arsenal's control, and in the 54th and 73rd minutes, the hosts got on the scoresheet via headers from Jurien Timber and William Saliba. Amorim's men were unable to respond to either goal and the match ended with a scoreline of 2-0.
Man United now sit 11th place in the Premier League, 7 points shy of their noisy neighbours Manchester City who are 4th.
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Set piece struggles
Any fan who managed to watch the full game would have noticed that Man United could not cope with Arsenal's unorthodox but effective set-piece strategy, specifically from corners.
The North London club's set piece coach, Nico Jover, came up with a mastermind plan to catch Man United's defence off guard and cause threat from each and every dead ball situation.
From corners, Arsenal would set up with around 6 of their tallest players at the edge of the 6-yard box on the opposite side to where the corner was being taken. From there, The corner taker (either Declan Rice or Bukayo Saka based on which side it was being taken), would whip in an in-swinging corner right in front of the goalline, and when they raised their arm just before running up to take it, the Arsenal players would crowd the goalline and cause complete chaos in the box.
Man United had no answer to this plan, as every single corner Arsenal took looked like it would result in a goal. Even Amorim's best aerial threats such as Matthijs De Ligt and Harry Maguire looked like they had no idea what to do in this situation.
This may just be a touch of class from Arsenal's staff rather than a major error from Man United, but it is definitely something to keep an eye out for because nothing is stopping other teams from setting up in a similar way and exploiting the Red Devils' defence.
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Leny Yoro returns
Shortly after his big-money move from Lille in the summer, Yoro broke his metatarsal in a preseason friendly against Arsenal which would rule him out for the foreseeable future. 5 months later, the 19-year-old has returned to action as he made his competitive debut for his new club against the same team that he got injured against.
Unfortunately, Yoro opened his Premier League account with a loss, but there were signs of good things to come from the Frenchman.
He looks like a sublime talent, and he will be eager to justify his price tag and reputation of being a generational talent in France.
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Amorim's substitutions
Once again, Man United's new boss had no hesitation when it came to calling upon his substitutes.
At half time, he decided off the already booked Tyrell Malacia for Amad Diallo, who would slot in at right-wing-back and move Diogo Dalot to play on the left.
Less than 15 minutes later, the Portuguese manager decided to make 3 more changes, as he brought on two attackers, Joshua Zirkzee and Marcus Rashford, as well as central defender Yoro who was mentioned earlier.
He made one further switch, taking off Rasmus Hojlund for Antony at the 80-minute mark.
These moves are all extremely bold but well-calculated, as he is not scared to change things that are not working throughout the match.
Hopefully, this can benefit Man United down the line as we know how important substitutions are in the modern game.
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Realistic expectations
Following the sacking of Erik Ten Hag, Amorim was appointed with a mammoth job at his hands, and after going unbeaten in his first 3 games, unrealistic expectations were set by fans.
Amorim slammed these fans in a recent press conference, as he stated that losses will come and Man United will not instantly turn into title contenders straight off the bat.
Arsenal are a team that are in a different position to Man United, as they have been in the title race for two previous seasons. Amorim needs to be given time and the right backing to succeed in this role, so taking the positives, moving forward and keeping expectations realistic would be the best approach for anyone within Man United.
With all of this in place, the former Sporting CP coach will have the best chance of bringing glory back to Old Trafford.
