Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim with defender Matthijs de Ligt.
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim with defender Matthijs de Ligt.
Matthijs de Ligt has outlined the importance of set-pieces - a matter of days after Arsenal scored TWICE from corners during their 2-0 win over Manchester United on Wednesday night.
Jurrien Timber and William Saliba netted for the Gunners against United at the Emirates Stadium as Mikel Arteta's side managed to exploit United's weakness from set-plays, and cause an even bigger threat of their own. It felt as though every time Arsenal got a corner, they might potentially score.
But United can learn from that and take on those lessons moving forward into their upcoming matches, starting with Saturday's clash vs Nottingham Forest. And, speaking ahead of that fixture, De Ligt has highlighted the how "important" set-pieces are and that Ruben Amorim's side must score from more of them.
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"That's something that' always important, especially in modern football," he told MUFC media. "The differences are so, so small. So a set-piece can make a big difference. So, obviously, we train on that a lot.
"I know that I have good qualities in this area. I think I'm quite strong in the air, jumping.
"My timing is quite good. So, yeah, hopefully more goals can come."
United's defeat at Arsenal was their first under Amorim. The Portuguese won two and drew one of their first three matches at the helm - beating Bodo/Glimt and Everton - before the top-flight loss against the Gunners.
United sit 13th in the Premier League table ahead of the game with Forest and Amorim is keen to get that winning feeling back. "I think that is the key point for us," Amorim said in his pre-match press conference.
"We have to understand our supporters, in just two weeks and in four matches, they just want to see effort in the first moment. And then to win games after a while with effort in winning games. They will want to see a dominant team. These are the phases we have to follow. This one is the easy one - effort, full effort, full sprint back, full sprint forward. It's a key point for us and the focus is a lot on that."