Ruben Amorim: Man United ‘steal’ set-piece routines from rivals

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim said his team is stealing set-piece routines from other clubs in the Premier League. The Red Devils registered a come-from-behind 2-1 win against Crystal Palace while playing away.

After Jean-Phillippe Mateta scored from a spot kick in the 36th minute for the hosts, the visitors equalized after Joshua Zirkzee found the back of the net in the 54th minute after an assist from captain Bruno Fernandes from a free kick. Zirkzee thudded the ball into the goal from a difficult angle and scored his first goal after almost a year.

Subsequently, Mason Mount scored the match-winning goal from another set piece in the 63rd minute.

Amorim’s team has now scored 10 Premier League goals from set-pieces this season — joint most with table-toppers Arsenal.

“We work a lot,” Amorim said when asked about United’s improvement at set-pieces.

“We have more time to work, we work a lot and we learn a lot in England.

“I think you are used to seeing that, but when you come for the Premier League you learn a lot with other teams how to do it and we are stealing a lot of things to score goals.”

The Portuguese manager said his message to his players was to play with more energy and passion.

“I just said to the players we need to be more alive and you can feel that,” Amorim said.

“So if you are more alive, you are in more places, you are near the ball more often. I think everyone did that.

“But we also need to understand that the opponent was tired also in the second half.

“And when you increase the rhythm and the opponent gets tired a little bit, suffers right away a goal, you felt that we had the control of the game and that’s it.”

Manchester United will next take on West Ham United at Old Trafford on Thursday.