Manchester United: What early signs has Ruben Amorim shown?
We are only three games into the Ruben Amorim era but already there has been a clear shift away from the football we saw Manchester United play under Erik ten Hag and interim manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
United have switched to Amorim’s favoured and much talked about 3-4-3 system with varying degrees of success.
As the Portuguese manager is getting to know his squad and dealing with managing the minutes of players returning from injury, it feels as though the former Sporting CP manager is learning what his best team is whilst simultaneously trying to communicate the way he wants them to play football.
Assessing performances to see which players work in certain positions with adjustments and most importantly how the overall team is doing in executing his ideas.
Being thrust into the busy winter period with games against Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur on the horizon are sure to be an early litmus test for how well Amorim and the United players have gelled, but it’s certainly worth delving into what we’ve seen so far.
What is Amorim's 'idea'?
Amorim hasn’t budged from his blueprint at Sporting CP and made it clear in his many media commitments before arriving that United would stick to his ‘idea’.
‘I think you will see an idea. You could like it or not, but you will see an idea.’
The ‘idea’ is based on the emphasis of creating space in wide areas and half-spaces for a player to dart into and cross into the box.
The player creating the space can be either a wide full-back in a back five, or one of the ‘wide’ forwards in the front three, who normally occupies the half-spaces.
Rotations are encouraged to drag defenders out of position, it doesn’t matter which one of the players gallops into the space to cross.
It took only 78 seconds for United to score their first goal in typical Amorim style. As Ipswich pressed Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, once the ball was played wide to Amad Diallo he attracted Leif Davis out from full-back.
Bruno Fernandes playing as the wide right forward then ran into the space vacated from Davis jumping out.
Once this happened, centre-back Cameron Burgess had to close down Fernandes meaning Diallo is now in the half-space and Fernandes wide, creating that crucial space for Diallo to run into and cross.
The aim is to pull the opposition wide before progressing the ball with a full-back being brave (Diogo Dalot) or look to punch the ball through the lines into one of the players in the half-spaces centrally (Fernandes).
The adjustments from Amorim have meant there’s been a lot more chatter around who plays the crucial roles at full-back and in the front three with Diallo’s emergence at wing-back being a shot in the arm for United.
Against Everton, whilst it took United some time to get going, what was also effective was the switch of play, evading Everton’s press from one end of the pitch to the other.
Although both central midfielders in Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro were marked, a wide switch from Noussair Mazroui means Everton have to deal with a full-back in behind, playing it over the top of Everton’s block.
Similarly, whilst using a wide full-back pushed up the pitch, a winger in Alejandro Garnacho drops deep in build-up, dragging a defender (Axel Tuanzebe) with him forcing Tuanzebe to mark Garnacho inside United’s half before picking the ball up again and switching the play.
Early problems
Whilst we’ve seen glimpses of United being effective in Amorim’s system, there are clear teething problems.
Many transitions were conceded against Ipswich and Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League. Ipswich pushed United back by pressing United’s back three and man-marking a wide forward (Garnacho) making progression tough.
It is still extremely early in the process and Amorim will be judged on finding solutions against teams who are sharp out of possession and thwart United’s progression. Compared to the opponents faced in the Liga Portugal the task will be much trickier.
Substitutions key
Amorim has been extremely proactive with his substitutions, due to a mixture of wanting to change the way a game is going as soon as possible and making sure each player gets minutes so he can make his own judgements
Against Ipswich at half-time, Amorim moved Fernandes into midfield, brought Luke Shaw on at centre-back and made changes in the attacking line to control the game better and stop Ipswich’s transitions. For the majority of the second half, United for once, slowed the pace down and took the sting out of the game.
In contrast to the helter-skelter nature of United last season, the club's new manager has recognised they must control games better and isn’t afraid to rotate his team frequently to do so.
How could they set up against Arsenal?
In Amorim’s first three games, United have been the team needing to dictate the tempo and control games. Against Arsenal away at the Emirates, it’s likely the Gunners will have the majority of possession.
United are at an extremely early juncture of the Amorim process and have not figured out some of the problems presented to them, particularly in transition and when the midfield and defence is pressed.
Arsenal are one of the world’s best teams out of possession, pressing high to constantly cause turnovers, it would be extremely brave to play the same way against the Gunners, but it’s likely Amorim will set up United as he set Sporting CP up in the Champions League with more of an emphasis on staying in a mid-block.
This is something we saw in Amorim’s final Champions League game for the Portuguese champions against Man City and it was effective as they went long to Victor Gyokeres often.
Whilst the game plan won’t be to mid-block and counter for 90 minutes, United will look to be more compact and could opt for two central defensive midfielders in Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro.
It’s a style many of these United players have thrived in and are used to from both the Solskjaer and Ten Hag days.
In a similar vein to last season’s FA Cup final, the onus will be on staying compact and instead of getting the ball forward as quickly as they can, patiently waiting for spaces to open, utilising the back five and advanced midfielders in the half-spaces as Amorim wants.
Erik ten Hag tinkered too much with United’s style leading to confusing matches where it wasn’t clear what the game plan was.
Amorim is an adaptive coach but he’ll be judged on how well United take to his 3-4-3 style and what solutions he can come up with as opponents attempt to stifle his attack.
Arsenal will be just the fourth game for United’s new manager, whilst it’ll be difficult to draw conclusions from the game, it will be a good marker for how much work he has to do with a team he is still getting to know.
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