Manchester United's Portuguese head coach Ruben Amorim shouts instructions to the players from the touchline Manchester United's Portuguese head coach Ruben Amorim conceded there was still much work ahead for his side, following their 2-0 loss to title challengers Arsenal on Wednesday. Picture: Adrian Dennis/AFP
Image: Adrian Dennis / AFP
Following his first loss as Manchester United coach with Arsenal running out 2-0 winners in their Premier League clash, Ruben Amorim admitted his side still needed much more time before they could compete with the top sides.
Two Arsenal corners in the second half on Wednesday, were enough to see off the challenge from United at the Emirates Stadium.
It was a fourth win in a row for Arsenal as they gained ground on Liverpool who drew with Newcastle in one of the other big league clashes on the night.
It was the fourth game for Amorim since he took charge of the side on November 11.
Under Amorim, United drew with Ipswich Town in the league before a 3-2 win over Bodø/Glimt in the Europa League. Over the weekend, United were impressive in a 4-0 win over Everton.
Against Arsenal though, the gap between United and the title challengers was apparent.
"The set-pieces killed the game. They can put a lot of players near the goalkeeper and it's almost impossible to fight for the ball,” said Amorim.
"We already know we have to be better.”
Though United competed strongly for the ball with 49% possession, they could not match Arsenal in the strike department. Arsenal had 14 shots at goal in total, with United managing just five.
“Tough game. We tried to play our game, especially in the first half. We need more trainings. The set pieces change everything, change the momentum. It was really hard for them. We tried, but we had two set pieces and didn’t score. They scored,” said Amorim.
“We have to understand that they have years of doing that [set pieces]. Even when you are here for so long, you can see how their set-pieces can change that. We tried to defend them in the space of two days to train,” he said.
“I learned that we are smart when we have the strategy. We are finding the way to press and the way to block. We will be better in time. We have to improve in every minute. We have to use every minute to try to improve and fight for the games.”
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, was unsurprisingly much more pleased than his counterpart.
“A special day. It's a joy to play in this stadium with that energy, it's something incredible," Arteta said.
"We scored two set-pieces, but we could've scored from open play many more.”