Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim has revealed that four of his players currently have time limits on the amount of football they can play.
The Red Devils were beaten for the fifth time in 14 Premier League matches at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night as Arsenal won 2-0 to move to seven points behind Liverpool, who drew 3-3 at Newcastle.
It was Man Utd’s first loss under Amorim after the Portuguese boss had led them to two wins against Everton and Bodo/Glimt and a draw against Ipswich in his first three matches in charge.
Man Utd have suffered with a number of injuries this season but Amorim has faced a selection headache in recent weeks as a number of his players return.
Harry Maguire, Tyrell Malacia, Mason Mount and Leny Yoro all played their part against Arsenal but the Man Utd boss was careful not to overwork the quartet.
Amorim told reporters: “It’s not because I like to change all the time but because I like to have all the squad fit.
“So for example, Harry Maguire has a time limit, Tyrell Malacia has a time limit, Mason Mount has a time limit, Leny Yoro has a real time limit.
“So we have to manage winning games, a different methodology, a different way of playing, more meters to press.
“Tomorrow we have to assess the guys and [if] they have a little bit risk of injury, they will not play. So we have to have everyone to work, to play and to improve the squad.”
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Arsenal scored both of their goals from set-pieces through Jurrien Timber and William Saliba. On how corners changed the game for Arsenal, Amorim said: “We already knew that it would be a tough game. I think the corners changed the game, the set-pieces. Then we lost the momentum, we tried everything then to control the game again.
“You feel it in the first half, in the environment of the stadium, that we were causing problems. We need to improve in a lot of areas of our game, but we were controlling the game.”
On Arsenal’s prowess from corners, Amorim added: “They are very good because they have a lot of time working on that. Especially on that, they have big players for that, so it is a strategy, and we had two weeks to work on that. We tried to do it but we know every team in the Premier League is suffering with set-pieces.
“It was a shame because we were not playing very well but also Arsenal was not playing very well.”
