Manchester United lost 0-2 to Arsenal corner! 2 The prince is overwhelmed, and the Premier League may become an Amorim testing ground

After 45 minutes at the Emirates Stadium, United were finally beaten 2-0 by Arsenal's corner, with Ruben Amorim suffering his first defeat in charge of the Red Devils. "Set-piece FC, Oleole!" The Gunners home fans laughed and sang as some joked that they had turned a corner into a penalty, and they were awarded 13 'penalties' to Manchester United's none.

Amorim made six changes to United's starting line-up, with Zirkze and Marcus Rashford, who scored twice last round, on the bench, and the more aggressive Hojlund and Garnacho starting, Mason Mount replacing the suspended Kobe Maynor, while captain Bruno Fernandes dropped back to partner Ugarte in midfield.

In central defence, Harry Maguire stepped on from the equally suspended Lisandro Martinez to form a central defence-back with De Ligt and Mazraoui, with Diogu Darlow returning to the right and Malacia on the left.

The first half was uneventful, with neither team having too good chances. Arsenal came close to opening the scoring, but Martinelli was offside before an assist and United escaped. Since then, Arsenal have mainly threatened from corners, with Thomas Partey having two attempts.

United's best chance to score came just before half-time, when Darlow took advantage of a mistake to clear the ball and volleyed wide, but the ball went wide of the far post to end the battle 0-0 for 45 minutes. Amorim made a substitution immediately after the break, with the yellowed Malacia replaced by Amad Diallo, who has been in excellent form of late and was a bit of a surprise not starting.

Set-pieces have become an important part of today's professional game, and Amorim has appointed his close confidant and assistant coach Carlos Fernandez to replace Andreas Georgesson, the former set-piece coach. Unfortunately, that didn't stop United from conceding points from two corners and it was entirely possible to concede more.

Amorim has changed Manchester United in a short period of time, away to Arsenal, United were competitive half the time, with a tight formation and even 2% better possession than the home side.

The Reds came close to equalising from a set-piece, with Fernandes setting up De Ligt's header from a free-kick from the right, but Raya's brilliant save kept the ball out of the net. Fernandes and Antony also played another free-kick combination, but the 100 million euro winger's shot was easily confiscated by Raya.

The 39-year-old Portuguese boss has identified some of United's problems, such as the weakness of the midfield, Casemiro and Eriksen are not suitable to start in such intense games, and Ugarte is a reliable central barrier. After the game, Amorim may write down the names of two overwhelmed United players in his notebook.

The first would be Garnacho, who conceded an unwanted goal up front and eventually allowed Arsenal to counter-attack and win a corner. Declan Rice was driven off and United were unable to hold on to their opponents' runs, with Timber flicking his head back and the ball into the back of the net to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead.

It was a fatal goal that prevented Amorim from carrying out his strategy of keeping the draw to win. United made quick substitutions, with Marcus Rashford and Zirkze coming into play, and €70 million centre-back Lenny Yoro also on the pitch, who was injured against Arsenal and returned to make his first team and Premier League debut.

However, the way Rashford gifted Arsenal's corner came as a shock to Amorim. The 27-year-old England star tried to play tricks in his own corner and was found to be on the wrong side of possession and the ball bounced off the line to allow the home side to win another corner.

Saliba eventually scored again from this corner, deflecting Patai's shot and Onana couldn't find it back to seal a 2-0 win for Arsenal.

Marcus Rashford and Garnacho, two of United's own Academy wingers, share the same problem, with the former supposed to be sold when there is still transfer value, while the latter is trying to act as a "super sub" at best. Amorim needed to bring in more efficient strikers and in the end, United's lack of a consistent goalscoring threat was a big reason for the defeat.

United's two-goal deficit came close to being extended in the end from a corner when Onana pounced on Timber's head and bounced towards goal, only to be cleared by his team-mates on the goal line. However, United's poor away record has had to continue, with seven away games against Arsenal without a win and 15 consecutive away games against the Premier League's top six. The last win came against Tottenham in October 2021, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led the side.

Manchester United need to learn from Arsenal, who have become one of the model clubs in the Premier League through successful signings and have made significant progress in the league. Moreover, Arteta has absorbed the lessons of Arsene Wenger's domination by Stoke City through set-pieces, making Arsenal themselves the "factory in the sky", and they have scored 23 goals from corners in the past two seasons, which is the best in the league.

After the game, Amorim explained why he kept changing his lineup. "It's not that I like to change, it's that we have to make sure all the players are fit." 'For example, Harry Maguire has just returned and the time he can play is limited, Malacia, Mason Mount and even more so Yoro. So we can only try to win the game in a different way, in a different way of playing, and we can also make better pressing. Tomorrow we have to reassess that those players who are at risk of injury will not play in the next game. So, I had to get everybody to work and play in order to improve the team."

The 19-year-old's return from injury was one of United's highlights, as he excelled in his short appearances, with a 100 per cent success rate on his head, 86 per cent pass accuracy, three successful tackles and two clearances.

After the defeat, United slipped to the bottom half of the table again, sitting 11th in the Premier League, seven points behind the top four. For Amorim, using the Premier League as a 'testing ground' to hone his squad and try to win the Europa League could be the best way to qualify for next season's Champions League, much like his teacher Jose Mourinho's strategy in his first season in charge of the Red Devils.

Amorim was particularly unhappy with the attacking line: "We didn't have time, we did a lot of work on the construction side, you can see the structure, you can see the philosophy, you can see the way the centre-backs run into midfield, it's all obvious. But we need to improve in the last ring or only in the third zone, we have to be more aggressive, we have to think more. However, this part is difficult to improve without a lot of training. My assessment of the game has nothing to do with the result, as I said before, even with a 4-0 win over Everton, you can see the positives and there are things that have to be improved. After this game, you know better."

Analysing the reasons for United's defeat, Amorim said: "You can feel it on the pitch, especially at the end of the first half, Arsenal are not comfortable. We only had one day to strategize but the players could do it, they stopped Arsenal from attacking on the right. It was set-pieces that decided the outcome today, and things changed after the first goal. It was really difficult for us to control the game completely, but we tried and we lost to set-pieces.'