Tactical walk throughs, kicking in training and pressing

Tactical walk throughs, kicking in training and pressing - how Amorim's making Man Utd a force again

After their worst season in 51 years, Man United have got a reaction from their players during pre-season in the United States.

Cunha runs the gauntlet

The reaction from a Manchester United staff member was one of near incredulity at Patrick Dorgu's performance in Chicago.

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"Proficient" was the word the suit used to describe Dorgu's start at the club. Dorgu, a left back by trade, is developing into a pure winger on the evidence of pre-season.

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Those selected for the wide roles in United's 3-4-2-1 system are routinely referred to as "wing-backs" when they have to be viewed as wingers. They are picked to service the striker. Dorgu did just that for Rasmus Hojlund's first goal against Bournemouth.

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"We have a very good relationship," Hojlund said in the Soldier Field mixed zone. "There's only one year between us and we have a lot of common friends. We come from the same sort of area in Denmark as well and we're really starting to bond."

Dorgu also got on the scoresheet for the first time in United colours. The 20-year-old is more attack-minded and more intense than he was during his sheepish first few months, admittedly in a team that literally could not string two Premier League wins together.

"I feel like I play the same way," Dorgu opined. "I just came in at a difficult moment and I think the team is improving a lot through the pre-season. I think it's more like a collective than an individual.

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"I feel like we need to attack more and I feel like me and Amad did well today to be attacking and always be a threat in behind."

Ruben Amorim struggled to find the right balance with the United team in his first six months. He often picked eight defensive players, hardly in keeping with the club's ethos.

The indecision was apparent in the days leading up to the Europa League final when Bruno Fernandes was suddenly moved back to midfield to accommodate Mason Mount, a decision that hammered the final nail in Alejandro Garnacho's coffin.

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Now the defenders are going on the attack. In the absence of Lisandro Martinez, Leny Yoro is embracing the line-breaking role from centre back, spraying the odd pass from his own third into the opponent's.

Fernandes was urgent in central midfield against Bournemouth, Dorgu was more of an attacker than a defender and Hojlund was ably supported by Amad and Mason Mount. It is a better balance.

Dorgu was man of the match against Bournemouth

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United have not put on a full open training session, as they have done on previous tours, due to the sheer amount of tactical work Amorim has presided over. Club media's lenses have not even been permitted entry for those sensitive segments. The players are playing as if they are being coached to within an inch of their lives.

Jose Mourinho privately observed that Amorim's system revolves around "providing depth to the striker". United are more direct and pinging more forward passes towards Hojlund, not as isolated in possession.

"I'm not going to say every training session, but he (Amorim) makes sure that you go prepared for every game," Diogo Dalot said. "We go to every game already knowing what's going to happen, more or less, with the opposition.

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United players prepared to warm up at Soldier Field

"Obviously, it can happen that they might change something, but the basics of every team, we try to go to every game prepared. We always do the walk-throughs and some tactical work, of course. He's very keen on that so we can be prepared.

"But at the same time, the message is really clear. There's not too much information, so everybody knows two or three things they need to do during the game.

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"Once we get used to that, I think we will reach a point, hopefully, where we can almost play with our eyes closed. We already know where everybody is going to be on the pitch."

Amorim personally oversees the tactical walk-throughs. Unlike the dogmatic Louis van Gaal, who infamously admonished a player if he took a shot without first controlling the ball, Amorim trusts the players to make their own decisions in a match environment. His assistant, Carlos Fernandes, continues to take charge of set pieces and certain drills.

United have won both games in the States

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The United head coach has settled on a softer form of discipline than Erik ten Hag. Players have breakfast in the Waldorf Astoria from 7.30am and have to be on the coach to training at the Endeavor Health Performance Center by 9.15. There is gym work before the players head onto the grass at 10.30. Amorim usually hits the gym for an hour from 7am each morning.

Ten Hag's dim view of tardy timekeeping caused congestion on the stairwell in United's Bangkok hotel during his first tour in 2022. The lifts in the Athenee hotel were so slow that players sometimes trekked up 40 flights of stairs to make meals on time.

United have performed enterprisingly in their two tour games in New Jersey and Chicago. Their chance-conversion rate in the latter against Bournemouth was most unlike them: four goals from six attempts on target. Most pleasingly for Amorim, United won without either of their £133.5million signings in the squad at Soldier Field.

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The team look in sync after a chastening six months getting to grips with Amorim's formation. He has identified the most suitable position for certain players, such as placing Harry Maguire or Matthijs de Ligt in the middle of the back three. A minor adjustment but one that has emboldened Yoro and, to a lesser extent, Ayden Heaven on the left.

Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte have not started together, so the outfield is not overloaded with defensive-minded starters. United were initially rigid in the 3-4-2-1 and now look fluid, with Amad and Kobbie Mainoo seamlessly shifting between different roles in the two tour games.

United won 4-1 against Bournemouth

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"More than the results, it's the way they are playing," Amorim replied when asked if there was a difference about United. "I think it's really important. People cannot see that. I think they are playing better also because they are connecting better with each other. Not just on the pitch, but off the pitch.

"I think they are stronger, they are faster. In this moment, of course, it's a pre-season. But you can see the intensity is completely different. I can see the data from the minutes are completely different.

"So we are improving. But again, it's a pre-season game. The pressure is going to be so much different during the season. It's important for them to understand that the same players can play a different game. I think today was a good day."

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Amorim is pleased with what he has seen in the States

What we can see is this is the fittest United have looked on tour for several years. There was gallows humour in the press box that Matheus Cunha, who spent more time walking than any other outfield player in the Premier League last season, sat out the Bournemouth win due to fatigue. Amorim warned the players at the start of his tenure that they would have to "run like dogs".

"I think we will hopefully see a United team that is attacking more, that's on the front foot," Dorgu added, "that's trying to dominate games, every game. We just take the rest of the pre-season to get even better.

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"I feel like we're getting there, we're playing more as a team, we're running for each other, we just need to fight to win games, we need everyone to play 100 per cent and that's what we're trying to do.

Mbeumo did a post-match on-pitch training session in New Jersey

"You can see it on the pitch that we're playing [as] a more active team. With the press, we run more for each other, so you can see that the pre-season has helped everyone."

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Mount revealed at the start of the tour that players were kicking each other more in training to up the intensity. The keep-ball activities at the start of sessions are usually lighthearted looseners. Fernandes was borderline overzealous on Tuesday, flying into Cunha.

Well-placed sources have noticed how pleased the players are that Fernandes has stayed. Amorim quickly came to lean on him last season and his influence is so profound that Amorim regards Fernandes as the Mourinho to his Bobby Robson.

Fernandes and Harry Maguire are the two players who spend the most time with the football staff. Fernandes joined club employees at the W Hotel bar on the post-season tour in Kuala Lumpur.

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Hojlund has his GPS tracker inserted for training

The last time the majority of United's starters played for more than an hour in an opening tour game was in 2018 in Phoenix when Mourinho had to pick a shadow squad a week after the World Cup concluded. Lee Grant was his most senior available goalkeeper and Antonio Valencia, the captain, lasted a half against Club America. Nine days later, Mourinho accused Valencia of enjoying "too much holiday" in the close season.

The current United players were all given an individual programme for the close season. Sources say much of it was a specific running drill that the players were tasked with replicating regularly back at the club's Carrington training complex, not dissimilar to a bleep test. The sports scientists have been impressed with the results, proof the players treated the programmes seriously, and the feeling is it has allowed United to hit the ground running in pre-season.

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Eyewitnesses have remarked how hard United have worked Bryan Mbeumo in the behind-closed-doors sessions. Mbeumo is a stocky but muscular presence who started in all 38 of Brentford's Premier League fixtures last term but United are not going easy on him. He has been timed during the attacking-and-retreating sprint drills.

Amorim has introduced a softer form of discipline (Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images.)

Amorim has eschewed double sessions that have been commonplace on past United tours. From one o'clock onwards, the players are free to do as they please, with a midnight curfew set for them and staff.

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United have been based at the Chicago Fire's immaculate training complex that opened this year. United favour a base for their pre-season schedule and the delayed flight to New Jersey for the West Ham match was a minor matter owed to the stormy weather.

Crucially, Amorim ensured United did not schlep across to San Diego to play at the Snapdragon Stadium to keep the sponsors sweet. That would have meant United heading west, where the time zone difference is eight hours as opposed to six in Chicago.

Staff felt the schedule for the 2023 tour - New Jersey, San Diego, in and out of Houston and Las Vegas - affected United's form at the start of a sulphurous season. United seem to be the only football club that has to reiterate that football comes first but on this tour it has.

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They have been better than proficient.

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