Ruben Amorim will NEVER succeed at Man Utd and mind

Two reliable reporters have shed light on a glaring weakness in Ruben Amorim’s tactics that make being a success at Manchester United near-impossible.

Amorim wasted no time deploying his customary 3-4-2-1 / 3-4-3 formation at Old Trafford upon succeeding Erik ten Hag as manager of Man Utd.

A specialist wing-back became signing number one when Patrick Dorgu arrived in January. The summer window then brought the complete revamp of United’s forward line, with Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko arriving.

There are still areas United will seek to improve in future windows, beginning with central midfield. But according to reporters Laurie Whitwell and Carl Anka, there’s a major drawback in Amorim’s tactics that is extremely difficult to overcome.

When looking back at United’s 3-0 defeat in the derby, Whitwell highlighted the fact it was Dorgu who led all Man Utd players in the touches in the opposition box category with 12.

In fact, Dorgu led all players in the tie, even surpassing the number of touches Erling Haaland had in Man Utd’s box.

Dorgu is a fine player in his own right, though the notion he’s the one Man Utd are reliant on most when it comes to providing the killer pass or producing a clinical finish is certainly a head-scratching one.

“Dorgu had 12 touches [in the opposition box] – that’s more than any player on the pitch, so Erling Haaland had nine, Mbeumo had nine, Sesko had none,” said Whitwell on the Talk of the Devils podcast.

“How does it happen that you’ve got a 20-year-old full-back as kind of, your most advanced, offensive and significant player in terms of trying to create?

“He does do some good stuff, certainly athletic, he gets up and down. But it doesn’t feel right to me that you’ve got Bruno who creates chances, and he’s not faultless, but he’s the guy this team has been built around for so many years and he had no touches in the opposition box.

“How’s that working out?”

Co-host, Carl Anka, replied: “It’s by design, right? 3-4-3 ideally works to create overloads and have a spare man, and a spare man who is very often a surprise feature.”

Anka went on to add: “There is a distinct risk, worry and concern that the way Amorim wants to play football overcomplicates things in a league and in a time period of the Premier League that is increasingly going towards a more simplified and direct [approach].

“My concern is the Man Utd job is incredibly difficult. There have been a series of managers that have come in, been faced with all sorts of problems, struggled to take them on and new problems have arose.

“The difficulty and the bit where the alarm in the back of my head starts going off is when the head coach starts creating problems of their own, rather than focus on solving problems.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask a 20-year-old wing-back in Dorgu to be the most important ball progressor, to be one of the most important on-ball creators in the final third, and also to be one of the most important defenders in one-v-ones.

“There were times when Haaland and others saw the space behind Dorgu and thought ‘let’s get the ball there, Luke Shaw doesn’t look great, let’s feast.’

“Dorgu is 20 years of age, I’m not sure it’s a sensible thing to do.”

Man City, Liverpool comparisons highlight Man Utd madness

There are a handful of the world’s leading coaches and clubs who deploy a back three plus wing-backs. Nevertheless, the vast bulk of elite clubs ignore the system and you only have to look at Man City and Liverpool to see why.

If City deployed Amorim’s tactics, it’d be Rayan Ait-Nouri from the left side tasked with being City’s decisive man in the final third, not Erling Haaland.

At Liverpool it’d be Milos Kerkez and not Mohamed Salah or Alexander Isak, for example.

While Ait-Nouri and Kerkez are obviously no slouches, they are not the first, second, third, fourth or even fifth players Pep Guardiola or Arne Slot would have in mind if choosing who the ball would fall to in a critical moment in the opposition box.

Those moments should fall to the most gifted attacking players. From Man Utd’s starting eleven on Sunday, the trio that best fit that category were Mbeumo, Sesko and Fernandes and as Whitwell mentioned, two of those combined for ZERO touches in the opposition box.

For Amorim’s system to truly succeed in the Premier League, he needs wing-backs who are elite both defensively and offensively. Unfortunately, those types of players simply do not exist.

He could bank on greater attacking output if deploying Amad Diallo as a wing-back, for example, but United’s already-shaky defence would look ever flimsier with Amad in a back five.

If Amorim refuses to alter his tactics – and he continues to stress he will not change – the club’s fortunes may have a ceiling on how much they can improve.

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