Ruben Amorim was pleased with how his side made Arsenal feel
Ruben Amorim reckoned his Manchester United side made Arsenal "uncomfortable" despite suffering a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
The Portuguese coach was dealt the first loss of his United tenure at the hands of Mikel Arteta on Wednesday night. In a match which the Gunners were largely expected to win, Amorim’s Red Devils stifled Arsenal’s attack in the opening 45 minutes with their pressing and compact set-up out of possession.
The two sides went into the break level at 0-0, but Arsenal’s corner routines proved decisive in the second-half as the host’s non-stop barrage of in-swingers saw defenders Jurrien Timber and William Saliba find the net. Amorim was visibly frustrated in the dugout but insisted he took away some positives, pointing out that United’s effective first-half approach left the Arsenal players and fans feeling nervous.
Asked what he learned from the match, Amorim said: “I make the evaluation of the game regardless of the result. Like I said, the 4-0 [vs Everton], you can take positive things but we have to improve and we already knew that.
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"But you can feel it in the stadium in the first half, especially at the end of the first half, you can feel that they were not comfortable. So you can take that.
“I think the difference today was set-pieces. Because, in set-pieces, you see a goal, then the momentum changes. It’s really hard for us to take full control of the game, but we tried.”
Amorim went on to say that Arsenal intentionally look to win corners by dragging opposition full-backs towards the corner flag. He added: “On every occasion Saka and Martinelli has one against one, they go outside, they cross. They know if the cross is going well, they can score. If it is a corner, they can score.”
Arsenal scored two goals from corners against United (
Image:
Getty Images)
That observation was completely rubbished by his counterpart Arteta in his post-match press conference. The Spaniard was quick to point out the Gunners' attacking plans are far more complex and that his team are effective in a number of different ways.
"Last year we scored the most goals in the history of this football club," the Arsenal manager said. "Not because of only set pieces, [but] because of a lot of things that we have. We want to create individual and magic moments.
"A lot of players can create their own goals. We can create goals from short counters and long counters, slow build-ups, restarts and the opportunity to open up the opposition. Every single phase of play let's maximise it, keep working on it, keep improving."
Arteta rejected the idea that his side are playing with the aim of winning corners
(
Image:
Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
He added: "No, we play with inverted wingers. They develop a lot inside so there’s not a lot of space inside. When they leave there is a lot of space for the full-back or for the six, if not then for the nine, if not you can go outside. We need to look at every angle. What they do, where they can be weak and where we can exploit the weakness of the opposition."
Despite Amorim’s comments, United lacked any attacking threat of their own throughout the match, managing five shots compared to Arsenal’s 14 with just two of those being on target. Following Arsenal’s latest win, they have now scored more set-piece goals (22) than any other Premier League side since the start of last season.
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