After watching the best team lose, Amorim must add 'winning matches' to new United culture

Even the most ardent of Mikel Arteta’s acolytes would be hard-pressed to say the best side won but after leaking points from winning positions last season, the win-at-all-costs approach should be welcomed

Mon, 18 Aug, 2025 - 08:11

Nick Callow

Way back in the days of black and white, before the war, before television and long before this correspondent’s parents were even born, an Arsenal supporter was often pictured parading a banner stating "We Arsenal supporters say may the best team win".

Even the most ardent of Mikel Arteta’s acolytes would be hard-pressed to say the best side won this match.

HAPPY TO BE PROVEN WRONG: An old message which didn't quite hold true at Old Trafford.

That will be of little or no consolation to Ruben Amorim and his Manchester United men, who dominated for long periods only to suffer such a familiar fate for the Portuguese coach in his brief tenure here.

United were so much better than they were in so many matches last season and Arsenal so much worse, but the result was worryingly predictable for United and could have a significant impact on both camps.

Victory at all costs will be so important for Arteta. Arsenal dropped 21 points from winning positions in the Premier League last season, their joint-most ever in this competition. But bar a couple of radical David Raya saves, they rarely looked like conceding here.

Altogether, a fixture of huge significance for an opening weekend for two clubs that take so much pride and satisfaction in coming out on top when they meet. Let’s see whether or not they take it into their next matches as Arsenal host newly promoted Leeds and United have a tricky trip to Fulham. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, either. Just one match in which the best team will feel hard done by and the winners unbeatable.

Brilliant defensive performances from Raya and his back four of Ben White, central defenders Gabriel and William Saliba as well as goalscorer Riccardo Calafiori were supported by exemplary energy in midfield from debutant Martin Zubimendi and an example-setting captain, Martin Odegaard, who each clocked up 11.5km of Arsenal’s collective 117.2km distance covered on the Old Trafford pitch. That is 6km more than United, for what it is worth.

As much as this was an improved United going forward, they still lacked a cutting edge, even with the strength and power of new signings Mattheus Cunha, Bryan Mbuemo and Benjamin Sesko, who came on as a second-half substitute.

And after all that fuss about Arsenal having to sign a recognised striker to win matches and titles, it was their first set piece of the season and a defender that settled it. A new routine, which they failed to execute at least half a dozen times in pre-season, finally paid off when it mattered most.

They were aided on this occasion by a sub-standard keeper struggling between the sticks. Altay Bayindir got the starting place while Andre Onana did not even make the bench. He flapped at the in-swinging cross and that error was enough to decide his side’s fate.

And these are the important stats which show why it is absolutely vital that Amorim and the United money men get back into the market before the summer window closes and address issues at the back as well as in attack. PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is still available.

Last season United conceded 12 times in the first half, the most in a Premier League season. They also finished 15th, their lowest ever bar relegation in the 1970s, and notched up an Old Trafford low nine home defeats.

Nothing in this match suggested we are in for a repeat season of unmitigated misery for Amorim and United supporters, but the trend is clearly hugely worrying. And they cannot say they got the rough end of the fixture schedule; however strong the winning side turns out to be this season, Arsenal had won only three of their previous 21 matches here.

Arteta acknowledged his side’s shortcomings afterwards and will be working this week to get the best out of their striker messiah Viktor Gyokeres. This was the first time since he left Coventry in 2023 for Sporting Lisbon he failed to record a shot on target.

Amorim, who shouldered full responsibility for not turning things around at United last season, was passionate in his defence of his keeper when he faced the media and insisted Onana was not dropped. He also gave no hint he wanted a new signing. He also said, somewhat bizarrely, they proved they can beat any team in the Premier League.

"We deserved a different result," the Portuguese coach said. "We need to win games but that was completely different to last season.”

Fair enough, to an extent, but as much as there is room for sympathy with his argument, and this report has largely backed what he said, losing can become a habit and it is on Amorim to add ‘winning matches’ to his new United culture and code of conduct.