Rio Ferdinand is not having any criticism towards arguably Manchester United’s Player of the Season for a second after Thursday’s 2-0 defeat at Premier League challengers Arsenal.
What more could he realistically have done?
Can you genuinely, honestly expect Andre Onana to come flying off his line – in a penalty area more tightly-packed than a London tube in rush hour – and claim the sort of delivery Declan Rice fizzed into his six-yard box at the Emirates Stadium?
Of course, the critics – those who’s experience of football is limited to their armchairs – will question Onana’s role in both of Arsenal’s goals. The Cameroon international was helpless as first Jurrien Timber and then William Saliba converted from close range.
But Rio Ferdinand, the legendary Manchester United central defender, knows a thing or two about defending set-pieces.
And he feels that, due to the quality of the ball and the sheer number of players blocking his path, Onana was pretty much blameless as Ruben Amorim suffered his first Man United defeat in North London.
(EDITORS NOTE: In this photo taken from a remote camera from behind the goal) A general view as Jurrien Timber of Arsenal scores his team's first g...
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Rio Ferdinand defends Andre Onana as Arsenal beat Manchester United
“The delivery was phenomenal,” Ferdinand argues. “It creates chaos, it creates hysteria and it creates nervousness. So I don’t see how you can say the goalkeeper is at fault when there is so many bodies there.
“He can’t get through. If I say to you, ‘go and run through six or seven bodies to get a ball without tripping over’… miracle. [Onana even] claimed a couple of balls.
“You have got to give the credit [to Arsenal]. It’s not always about the goalkeeper. Sometimes, the ball is that good you can’t come. The pace with which Declan Rice is putting that ball in, he’s got only one or two seconds to make a move. Its difficult.
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“The distance is too near and it’s too quick a ball for him to even come because he is not going to get there with the bodies in the way.
“So I actually side with Onana. I don’t think he’s got any fault in these situations.”
Even without their usual dead-ball magnet – four-goal Gabriel Magalhaes was ruled out for Mikel Arteta’s side – Arsenal’s impeccable delivery, combined with the sheer size and physicality of their players, made those trademark set-piece routines almost impossible to stop.
No team in the Premier League, meanwhile, has scored more set-piece goals this season than Arsenal’s tally of seven.
Ruben Amorim accepts set-pieces secured Arsenal the win
The positive, of course, is that Arsenal created next to nothing from open play.
Ruben Amorim has instilled a discipline and an organisation into a United side so lacking in both attributes under Erik ten Hag, even if there is clearly work to be done at the other end of the pitch with Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Mason Mount largely anonymous from an attacking sense.
Man United’s best chance fell to Matthijs de Ligt, from a set-piece of their own.
“We already knew that it would be a tough game,” Amorim reflects in his post-match discussions. “I think the corners changed the game, the set-pieces.
“Then, we lost the momentum. We tried everything then to control the game again.
“You feel it in the first-half, in the environment of the stadium, that we were causing problems. We need to improve in a lot of areas of our game, but we were controlling the game.”
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