Manchester United visited Aston Villa's Premier League match, and although the team was eventually forced to draw 2-2, Bruno Fernandez at least broke the Red Devils' most embarrassing statistic since the half - zero goals from set-pieces. The Portuguese midfielder teamed up with teammate Tres on a free kick and scored the first goal with a long-range shot.
For this goal, Manchester United first thanked Villa goalkeeper Martinez for his mistake, B Fei's shot angle was facing the goalkeeper, but he made a mistake and the ball entered the net from his crotch. The first leg of the two teams in the league, after the Red Devils played a flying penalty in the new nuclear time and failed to draw, the Argentine goalkeeper danced in front of the Old Trafford West Stand to celebrate, this amateur mistake may be said to be "paying off the debt".
Although it was Villa's mistake to give gifts, But United's free-kick combination was at least somewhat creative, Tres pretended to shoot, stepped on the ball to resume the game, Fernandez pushed the ball forward, directly to the feet, Cavani rushed to the goal to shoot, shook the goalkeeper, causing Martinez to make a mistake.
This is the first time this season that United has scored with a set-piece, and the only set-piece scores the Red Devils have previously been penalties. On the sideline bench, a Manchester United coach, once known as the "secret weapon", may be relieved that the team's set-piece and personal training coach Eric Ramsay.
Last summer, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer recruited Ramsey from Chelsea's youth system with the aura of "England's youngest professional coach certificate winner" and put him in charge of set-piece training. The British "Daily Star" revealed that Ramsey was recommended by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's assistant coach at the time, Kieran McKenna.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised Ramsey at the time: "Eric [Ramsey] is young and energetic, has new ideas, we know he is a coach with innovative ability, Kierang [McKenna] knew him when he was working at Loughborough, so we are very happy that he can join." 」
However, half a season later, United's free-kick and corner breaks are still zero, leaving the 29-year-old Ramsey into a joke. You know, Manchester United has C Ronaldo, Tres, Fernandez, Mata and other set-piece masters, as well as Maguire, Cavani and other air overlords, set-piece goals so few, it is certainly impossible to say.
The data shows that before the match against Villa, Manchester United had won a total of 100 corners in 19 premier league rounds this season, but not to mention scoring, most of them basically did not threaten the opponent's goal. Because the Red Devils' tactics are too simple and direct, that is, to pass the ball to the top of Maguire's head. United scored six more corners in this game, however, as Maguire was only a substitute, it was impossible to pose a substantial threat to the Villa goal.
Not a single goal was scored in 106 corners, setting a record for the worst set-pieces in the Premier League. At the same time, Manchester United only scored the first free kick after half a season relying on the goalkeeper's amateur mistake, and Ramsey's free kick training effect was obviously not qualified.
Of course, Ramsey still brought some help to Manchester United in the defense of set-pieces. Last season, the Red Devils conceded the most set-pieces after Leeds United, and so far this season, the team has conceded the 6th fewest set-pieces in the Premier League. However, if the team's set-piece goals cannot be increased at the same time, as a special coach, Ramsey can hardly be said to be successful.