“Marginal gains” is a phrase used a lot in sport, but in football where a width of a goal frame can decide a match, it’s important to cover every angle in a team’s preparations.

Many United fans would have been surprised to see Liverpool finish on 97 points last season. Even with the signing of a new goalkeeper and a couple of midfielders, they added 22 more points to their total from the 2017/18 campaign.

It was more than personnel that led to them rising up the table. Although you hesitate to give a rival too much credit, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be wise to take some notes from Jurgen Klopp, in one important area at least.

Set-pieces are often dismissed as low percentage opportunities in the modern game. After all, why spend the limited time that coaches have on the training pitch with the players focusing on free kicks and corner kicks when most of your chances will come from open play?

Liverpool decided to go against the grain last season. Their analysts delved into the fine detail and quickly found weaknesses in their opponent’s defending from set-pieces. It led to them scoring 20 times from set-pieces in the Premier League last season. They had managed just 11 the previous campaign.

Just by increasing their focus slightly they had managed to double the number of goals from an often overlooked part of the game. Fine margins can lead to vastly different outcomes. In knockout football, in particular, it can be even more crucial. England also showed at the 2018 World Cup how innovation in corner kick set up can pay dividends. Those extra details helped Gareth Southgate’s side get to a World Cup semi-final.

United scored 12 goals from set-pieces in the 2018/19 season. It’s not a bad total, but it is still two fewer than they managed when they finished second under Jose Mourinho.

Rather than ignoring this aspect of the game, there would be no harm in United taking inspiration from Liverpool and England by focusing more on it during pre-season. Football is not an exact science but by finding these “marginal gains” it could just be the difference between losing and drawing, or between drawing and winning a match.

You never know, United could even benefit from the extra set-piece training in a game against the Reds next season. Wouldn’t that be a fitting irony?