Ruben Amorim delivers defiant message over Man United’s set-piece misery – after his side conceded directly from corners twice in a week
Ruben Amorim has warned that Manchester United are ready to fight fire with fire after experiencing more set-piece misery.
United have a conceded a club record 18 goals from free kicks and corners in 2024, with one game still to go this year against Newcastle on Monday night.
Andre Onana conceded another goal from a set-piece in the 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Boxing Day when Matheus Cunha’s corner went over his head, but United felt that Matt Doherty and Santiago Bueno impeded their keeper on the goal line.
Instead of complaining about the situation, Amorim has decided to adopt similar tactics to cause United’s opponents problems of their own.
‘Those are the rules and we must not cry about it, but do the same thing,’ he said. ‘We have to focus on doing the same thing to the opponent — that is my goal at the moment.
‘You can see that every corner nowadays is an opportunity. So sometimes you forget the small guys and the talented guys. You put 11 guys to corners or free kicks if you can do everything inside the box.
Andre Onana was beaten by Matheus Cunha’s corner-kick during Man United’s loss to Wolves
It came a week after Altay Bayindir had been beaten by a corner from Heung-Min Son
United have now conceded from a set-piece in five consecutive Premier League matches
‘What I’m saying is that if set-pieces are becoming so important, you can do everything. We have to learn it and I have to do the same thing, even with the small guys. We just have to copy and do the same thing in not trying to change the rules. Just use the rules to score goals.’
Amorim was concerned about the anxiety around Old Trafford when Bournemouth got near United’s goal in a 3-0 win last weekend, and is expecting more of the same against a Newcastle side that have won their last four games scoring 14 goals.
‘We have to fight against everything because our supporters are always there, but they are tired of this moment,’ he added.
‘We have to expect that any play from Newcastle near our box is going to make the stadium nervous, and our players have to cope with that.
‘So it’s a very strong team, very fast with a lot of pace, with a lot of time working with the same coach. We want to be competitive and try to win the game that’s all.
‘I would not dare to ask anything of our fans. They give us everything: a full stadium, they’re always supporting, clapping loss after loss. I just want to give something to the fans, not ask something of them.’
