Manchester United fixture against Burnley will show how team have improved at set-pieces

According to FBref, Manchester United have taken 117 corners so far this season and scored precisely none of them. With that in mind, you're probably looking at the headline and wondering what I'm actually talking about.

This has been a problem for United throughout the season, but when Ralf Rangnick came through the door, a quote in an interview he gave with Coaches Voice came to the fore.

He said: "30% of all goals are scored either on or straight after a set-piece, so, as coaches, you need to be alert to that, and as 30% of all goals are scored in this manner, I commit 30% of my training to set-pieces."

Now, as you'd expect, most fans looked at that quote and, in desperation to see Harry Maguire get his head on the end of a beautifully whipped-in cross, expected this would mean that Rangnick would improve the club's fortunes in offensive positions.

There have been routines worked on at United, as you can see the variation in how the team approaches them, but none have provided a goal.

But what most fans probably failed to consider is the German is a pragmatic coach, whose RB Leipzig side was the most defensively solid team in the Bundesliga during his one season tenure in 2018/19. When describing set-piece situations, he could quite easily have meant in the defensive sense as well.

And the word 'alert' seems to lend more to that theory as well.

Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United conceded four goals from corners. It always looked shaky dealing with those situations, but since Rangnick has been appointed, United are yet to concede a goal from either a corner or a free-kick.

A significant contributing factor to this is the aerially dominant defenders that United have at their disposal in Maguire and Raphael Varane.