Manchester United specifically practiced corners pre-Arsenal defeat | OneFootball

Manchester United specifically practiced defending corners ahead of their match against Arsenal, only to concede two of them anyway.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

You might not have guessed it from what played out on Wednesday night, but Manchester United put a lot of work into defending corners before their midweek game against Arsenal.

Ruben Amorim admitted as much after the match, suggesting the team had spent two whole weeks working on their defensive set pieces in the build-up to the fixture.

“They are very good because they have a lot of time working on that,” Amorim began.

“Especially on that, they have big players for that, so it is a strategy, and we had two weeks to work on that. We tried to do it but we know every team in the Premier League is suffering with [their] set-pieces.”

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

That work was also made evident to those in attendance at the Emirates pre-match, as United spent time specifically practicing defending corners and narrow attacking free-kicks in the warm-up.

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United did need the practice, as they ended up giving away 13 corners in the 90 minutes on Wednesday. But it didn’t pan out very well for them, as Arsenal looked more threatening than ever.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Thomas Partey missed a sitter with a headed effort from a corner in the first half, as the ball bounced off his shoulder. Andre Onana flapped at a Bukayo Saka corner not long afterwards, leading to shots from Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Martinelli.

Arsenal’s first goal eventually came from a corner, as Declan Rice crossed for Jurrien Timber to glance a header into the net. But that was far from the last dangerous set-piece.

Joshua Zirkzee was lucky not to head into his own net from Rice’s next corner, with another United player making a goalline clearance.

Arsenal eventually did double their lead through William Saliba, deflecting the ball into the net after another Saka corner.

With the Arsenal fans really enjoying themselves by this point, Mikel Merino was disappointed to see another free header from a corner drifting narrowly wide of the post.

Fortunately for United, the final whistle finally brought an end to their corner torment, and Amorim will be disappointed their preparation didn’t pay off.