“You have to…” – Ruben Amorim reveals what Mikel Arteta taught him about the Premier League

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has revealed one thing that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has taught him about the Premier League.

Ruben Amorim has had a mixed beginning to his Manchester United tenure, with two wins in his first five games in charge.

The 39-year-old has been teaching his squad the new playstyle but also learning about his players and the Premier League.

His first defeat came against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, where the Gunners scored twice from set-pieces despite United’s solid defensive shape in open play.

For both goals, several United players were pushed and shoved which allowed Arsenal’s players the spaces to exploit.

Some would call for these moments as fouls and Rasmus Højlund was being told that he should have fell to the ground when Jurien Timber put two hands into his back.

However, others would claim that the Premier League allows more physicality in these moments than other top divisions. This is the assessment that Amorim has made and he wants to take advantage.

After also conceding from a corner in the most recent game against Nottingham Forest, the Portuguese head coach is aiming for set-piece improvement in the coming weeks.

But he also wants his team to start taking advantage of the fact that you can be more physical in the box in the English game.

“We want to improve set-pieces,” the head coach told club media ahead of the Europa League clash against Viktoria Plzeň on Thursday.

“For us, as a staff, it’s a different country and you can see that you are allowed to do something more here in set-pieces… you have to take advantage of that.”

While Arteta has been compared to former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis in recent weeks due to Arsenal’s set-pieces, it is clear that the Arsenal boss has opened Amorim’s eyes to the possibilities of gaining those small advantages over the opponent.

Unfortunately, United remain quite a small team in comparison to the Gunners, although having the likes of Højlund, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee in the squad should mean that they can improve.

We have already seen the Reds trying interesting things on attacking set-pieces. Marcus Rashford scored against Everton from a smart corner routine where Bruno Fernandes clipped the corner immediately to the edge of the box for him to strike.

Antony also should have done better in the closing stages against Arsenal after a clever free-kick routine left him open with the ball inside the box.

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