Manchester United fell to a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night as Arsenal inflicted a first loss on new head coach Ruben Amorim.
In a cagey first half, the visitors defended well and contained the Gunners – with neither side ever really getting the upper hand, despite Diogo Dalot coming within inches of opening the scoring before half-time.
Despite having little to do, Andre Onana picked the ball out of his net on 54 minutes as Jurrien Timber headed home from one of many excellent Arsenal corner-kicks.
William Saliba fortuitously bundled in the killer second goal – once again from a set-piece delivery – to compound United’s misery.
Here are five talking points from United’s defeat in North London.
Set pieces the big difference on the night
Arsenal gave United a lesson in set-piece proficiency on Thursday evening.
Mikel Arteta’s men delivered numerous dangerous inswingers into the away team’s penalty area, regularly utilising a reliable weapon for the home side.
Time after time, the Old Trafford outfit struggled to deal with the well-rehearsed routine and it ultimately resulted in two goals being conceded.
Ruben Amorim won’t be happy with this, and will surely be keen to improve in this area as soon as possible.
A learning curve for Ruben’s Reds
When Amorim was appointed head coach last month, he told fans there would be an idea quickly implemented, but there would also be some tough days ahead.
This was one of the latter, with the Reds coming up against an experienced side who have been there or thereabouts in terms of challenging for the title for the past two seasons.
It is still very early days under the club’s Portuguese tactician and his new system, but there are areas of improvement already, which the coaching staff can be satisfied with.
Yoro makes long-awaited debut
It’s been a long four months out injured for summer signing Leny Yoro.
Having joined from Lille, the young French defender was injured in July during a pre-season friendly against the Gunners.
It was a long overdue first game for the Frenchman, and he did well during his 31 minutes of action – slotting in on the right-hand side of the back three.
The 19-year-old centre-back won four duels, made two clearances, and executed two successful tackles in an impressive cameo.
Those in attendance were treated to a promising glimpse of one of Europe’s brightest young defenders.
Reds lack killer instinct in final third
The 20-time English champions had some promising breakaway moments, particularly in the first half, but failed to take advantage of their pace on the counter.
The players didn’t take enough risks, and the final ball never arrived. One can rightly feel that an opportunity to hurt Arsenal was missed.
Amorim noted in his post-match press conference that his team would need more time and training to work on some specific attacking ideas but said his side also needed to be more aggressive when in the future.
This will undoubtedly be something to work on in the coming weeks.
Amorim already making a difference defensively
Under the stewardship of predecessor Erik ten Hag, away days against a top-six opponent often felt like a daunting prospect – regularly ending in a comprehensive defeat.
However, in the first real test under Amorim, the Red Devils made a game of it – looking organized off the ball whilst holding possession well – limiting their hosts to corners.
Despite ultimately conceding two goals from set-plays, the Londoners didn’t create much else, and the former Sporting Lisbon boss can be happy with his side’s overall defensive performance from open play.
It’s also worth noting that United stuck to their game plan throughout and didn’t drop deep or resort to playing hopeful long balls.
This was encouraging, but there is a lot of work to be done.
What did you make of Manchester United’s performance in last night’s defeat at the Emirates?
Let us know in the comments or across our social channels.
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