Manchester United kicked off their Premier League campaign with a defeat at home to Arsenal, but there were positives to take from the hard-fought game.
Arsenal came away with all three points thanks to a goalkeeping error from Altay Bayindir, picked between the sticks ahead of Andre Onana who is still not match fit.
There were encouraging glimpses of what new attacking signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo can bring to the team, but a strong defensive showing meant Bayindir had little else to do.
Strong showing from Yoro
The pick of United’s backline was Leny Yoro, who impressed alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Luke Shaw in Ruben Amorim’s first back three of the season.
The Frenchman made six clearances – matched only by De Ligt – and four interceptions, three more than any player on either team.
He also weighed in with two tackles to keep Arsenal’s attackers at arm’s length, but was most dominant in the air where he won five out of five duels contested.
With the ball on the ground he wasn’t quite as effective today, winning only two of the six duels he contested, but he was United’s key man for building from the back.
Good in possession
Nobody on the pitch took more touches than Yoro’s 85, and he was good value for having this possession with some accurate, incisive passing.
The 19-year-old found his man with 61 of his 67 attempted passes, recording a pass completion rate of 91%.
He was a useful outlet at the back, attempting seven long balls and finding his target with four of them.
United certainly didn’t deserve to lose the match and can take heart from a set of strong individual performances, but it was also a positive showing from the team as a whole.
Amorim’s side make the trip to Fulham next weekend to try and pick up their first points of the season, and it’s a safe bet that Yoro will be in the starting lineup.
All stats taken from sofascore.
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
