Do Man Utd have a set-piece coach and why are they conceding from so many?
- Published
There seemed to have been improvement but worrying signs have emerged over the past couple of weeks around a weakness that led to United conceding 13 goals from set pieces in the Premier League last season - a figure only exceeded by Arsenal, Southampton and Wolves.
After a pre-season during which United had not conceded a set-piece goal, they did in their final game, to a straightforward outswinger into the box that landed directly at the feet of an unmarked Simon Sohm, who finished first-time as the home defence left the back-half of the penalty area totally unattended.
That seems a fairly simple issue to fix as replays identify two Fiorentina players being left free.
Arsenal's winner at Old Trafford owed more to a combination of Declan Rice's delivery and Gabriel crowding out goalkeeper Altay Bayindir. That is harder to remedy.
Any corner dropping where Rice's did is going to create a problem. On Sunday, Ruben Amorim was looking for a bit of protection for Bayindir from referee Simon Hooper that did not arrive.
Amorim said if that was the rule, United would play to that. Do not be surprised if his defenders offer Bayindir, or Andre Onana if the Cameroon international is recalled, support by trying to clear a space around him – which almost certainly will lead to a lot of work for referee Chris Kavanagh as he deals with the inevitable push and shove when they face Fulham this weekend.
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