Under Erik ten Hag, Manchester United were one of the least-inspiring teams in the Premier League when it came to set-pieces. Things have changed since Ruben Amorim arrived.
When Manchester United scored from two free-kicks in Sunday’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, it suddenly attracted attention to a broader efficiency at set-pieces that just hadn’t previously been associated with the club.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Palace themselves, had all been praised for their work at attacking dead-ball situations this season (and for a lot longer than that in some cases). But United’s two strikes at Selhurst Park put them joint top of the leaderboard for set-piece goals in the Premier League in 2025-26 with 10 (including own goals). It’s a stat that took plenty by surprise.
As Arsenal have shown in recent years, it’s a significant strength to have for any team, but even more so if you’re a side who don’t blow teams away that often – as is the case with United.
For instance, United’s 21 goals scored in total this term is decent, with only four teams bettering that. However, they’ve also conceded 20 times, an improvement on just seven clubs. It also, obviously, gives them a modest goal difference of +1.
That means 47.6% of United’s goals this season have come via set-pieces, which is the greatest proportion of any team in the Premier League. And of their 21 points, 12 can be attributed to goals from dead-ball scenarios (excluding penalties).
Now, if they’d not scored any of those 10 set-piece goals, it’s possible they might have netted in other situations, so we’re going to avoid suggesting United would be in the relegation zone if they weren’t good at set-plays. However, it’s impossible to ignore how important they’ve been for Ruben Amorim this season.
United haven’t drawn a whole lot of acclaim (in any sense) in recent years, but it’s fair to say they deserve it here – and not just because they’re effective. Part of the backstory here is how ineffective they’d been in these situations not that long ago.
Plenty of United supporters will remember how little threat they carried from set-pieces in the Erik ten Hag era. They scored the odd goal, sure, but their efforts paled in comparison to their rivals.
In 2022-23, United scored just six goals from set-pieces. For starters, that was the fewest of any team in the top flight that term – but beyond that, every other team in the top five managed at least twice as many.
It didn’t stop them from finishing as high as third, which at the time was seen as very encouraging given the relative misery of 2021-22. However, if they’d got somewhere close to Liverpool’s 18 (joint best in the league), the gap to champions Manchester City (14 points) and Arsenal in second (nine points) wouldn’t have been so huge.
The point is, the best teams generally recognised set-pieces could be invaluable. For whatever reason, United struggled to make the most of them.
That’s no longer the case, however. So, what are they doing differently?
Put simply, they’re learning from others. After all, “good artists copy, great artists steal”, as Pablo Picasso supposedly once said.
“We work a lot,” he told reporters. “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 from 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.”
Josh's finish is definitely worth another look
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 1, 2025The Athletic intriguingly highlighted earlier this week that the free-kick routine leading to Joshua Zirkzee’s equaliser on Sunday resembled one several teams – including United – have tried against Palace specifically in the past.
But it’s also worth noting that they’re not the first team United have played deep or wide indirect free-kicks towards the near-post zone against.
In the following two examples, Bruno Fernandes’ quick thinking releases Zirkzee (vs Burnley) and Leny Yoro (vs Sunderland).
The only issue was that on both occasions the final pass wasn’t quite cute enough to catch out the defence, whereas it was against Palace (and it didn’t hurt that Zirkzee did well to keep the move alive).
Quick thinking by Fernandes wasn’t a deciding factor for that goal at the weekend as he took his time over the delivery, but just like with the other two examples above, United’s captain did catch the opposition out with the winner. Palace seemingly weren’t expecting him to nudge the ball to Mason Mount, who was also somewhat unaware before adapting well and striking into the bottom-left corner.
Mase talks us through *that* free-kick routine pic.twitter.com/YFoC0wYFwW
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 1, 2025In fairness, Mount revealed after the game it was a routine they’d worked on in pre-season, so he wasn’t completely blindsided. In the other two examples, Yoro and Zirkzee seem pretty certain what’s coming because they move with a greater intensity than anyone else before the passes are even played.
Granted, it’s not as if this has yielded lots of goals, but it does highlight some joined-up thinking and a creative approach to set-plays. It’s evidence of the “work” and additional time Amorim alluded to.
The most obvious changes for United have come at corners, however. The way they set up now is considerably different to a few years ago.
Below are examples of corner setups that were fairly typical of United in Ten Hag’s first season (2022-23), when their four goals from corners was the joint fewest in the division.
As you can see, there’s a clear focus on the front post. And, although there was a little more variation in 2023-24, broadly their concentration was on a similar zone, as shown below.
Of course, we can’t use screenshots of every corner setup United used, but typically they targeted the front post with relatively predictable vertical runs (if any). The following graphic highlights a broad focus towards the front-post zone with deliveries under Ten Hag.
This season, however, they are almost unrecognisable. Far more we’re seeing them lining up at the back post before scurrying more horizontally into the danger zone.
Again, we come back to Amorim’s acknowledgement of “stealing”. We aren’t suggesting United have revolutionised corners, here; Arsenal have been renowned for this approach at corners for several years now, and it’s worked like a charm for them.
It certainly seems likely this is an aspect United have taken inspiration from. While that might attract sneers about unoriginality or “copying”, Mikel Arteta believes being inspired by the methods of other coaches is a fundamental part of management.
“I think we all [take ideas from other managers],” he said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “It’s not about copying and pasting, because in the end your individuals have to be able to do it, but I imagine every manager tries to learn from other teams, whether we tell it openly or not. I’m sure we all do it.
“You see certain patterns, whether it’s set-pieces or any other phases of play, that you see [and think], this [seems] familiar. But it’s part of the evolution of any manager and every team, I think.”
Looking at United’s corner end locations in the Premier League over Amorim’s entire reign does reflect a general deviation from the team’s methods before his arrival, with 38% landing in the central zone between the penalty spot and goal compared to 28% during Ten Hag’s time.
But the data shows those changes are far more pronounced specifically this season. Below, we have United’s corner end locations over Amorim’s entire reign, and then the same for 2025-26 alone.
As much as 15% of their corner deliveries are reaching the back-post zone inside the six-yard box this season, which is the third-highest proportion of all teams. When all back-post zones are added together, 38% of United’s corners in 2025-26 have been delivered into this area – that’s a greater share than any other club.
United’s methods have been effective, with 25.5% of their corners yielding a shot at first contact, which is the highest percentage in the Premier League this term.
But their setup at corners isn’t just relevant for the initial delivery. In instances when the ball might be cleared or played short at first, United players instinctively know roughly where to aim for – maybe they did before as well, but a follow-up cross is likelier to come in from the side of the pitch the initial corner is taken from, and those crosses are generally easier to attack from the back post.
Harry Maguire’s winner at Liverpool came in such a manner, while Casemiro’s header at home to Chelsea was partly made possible by Patrick Dorgu’s smart run to the back post for Noussair Mazraoui’s deep cross. Admittedly the Blues’ subsequent inability to clear their lines was quite helpful.
But, as a well-regarded Premier League set-piece coach explained off the record to Opta Analyst earlier this year, there’s only so much influence “strategy” can have – being successful or not depends more on the quality of the players’ deliveries.
Fernandes has been criticised for his dead-ball deliveries in the past, but a lot of their success from them is attributed to him. While on the other side, Bryan Mbeumo has arguably provided even more quality.
Of Mbeumo’s 21 corners, 33.3% (so, seven) have been followed by a shot with the first contact – only James Ward-Prowse (50% – 7/14) and Adam Wharton (41.7% – 7/12) have a better record among the 50 players to take at least 10 corners this term.
Similarly, Declan Rice is the one player whose corners have generated more xG (expected goals) from first-contact shots (4.2 xG) than Mbeumo (2.1), though the Arsenal man has taken almost twice as many (40 to 21).
Then, you also have to bear in mind the attributes of the players looking to get on the end of the deliveries. In Benjamin Sesko, Zirkzee, Maguire, Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Casemiro, United have a group of players who are either tall or capable of being a handful physically.
Put all of this together and you’ve got reliable takers, players who can make decisive contact, and a general strategy that seems to be working.
Of course, set-pieces can’t fix everything, and there’s an argument their effectiveness here further highlights inefficiencies in open play. But for years United could be accused of being out-thought by their rivals, whereas they now have an edge.
All data correct as of 3 December 2025
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‘Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal’: How Ruben Amorim Turned Man Utd Into Set-Piece Specialists Opta Analyst.
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