IT’S not as easy as 3-4-3 for Manchester United.
But there ARE signs Ruben Amorim’s formation can work — even with nine defeats so far.
Against Tottenham, the shape was not the problem, it’s the players’ decision-making.
United had great chances to score and if they had, we would be talking about Ange Postecoglou’s issues.
The back three are getting it and Harry Maguire, Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui’s shape was miles better on Sunday.
Patrick Dorgu was a big positive, he’s slotted in easily at left wing-back since joining from Lecce at the start of the month.
But the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes just didn’t give him the ball when he was in position to drive into the area.
The biggest issue is in central midfield where Fernandes had 105 touches but was constantly dragged to the right by James Maddison, who plays on Spurs’ inside left.
The 3-4-3 is designed to provide overloads as the wing-backs provide an extra defender/ midfielder/attacker, so the free man is on the other side for a switch and run forward — yet when United switched it, they had no belief.
Diogo Dalot does not have the legs to get up and down on the right, so United need a specialist right wing-back.
Forwards Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee aren’t dynamic enough to play in this formation and they missed Amad Diallo.
With the right players, the system works — as Amorim showed when his Sporting stuffed Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League in November.
But will he get the players needed before Sir Jim Ratcliffe runs out of patience?
Daphoenix23
25
Antonio Conte used this same formation at Chelsea and it was resounding success… don’t forget… MAN UTD just have players who are over prized, overpaid and are average not taking to coaches instructions and just wanting to have their way with the belive the coach will soon get the sack if they loose enough games… Ralf ragnick said same when he was interim coach, a lot of these players need to go cos they are not MAN UTD material neither are they good enough to fight for the badge. Some of them just need to go to smaller clubs where there are no pressures or scrutiny from the board, fans, pundits and the press, where they can play rubbish, give wrong passes, loose the ball countless times and still score a goal and be celebrated like they are CR7 or Messi… at MAN UTD, a few errors here and there and the knifes are out for you…. And thy can’t cope. This formation is a very good formation, it just needs the right players to make it work
DavidFoley88
15
Just watched some more highlights of yesterdays game, you know what, most may disagree, but was it just me that thought we didn't play THAT bad? (Considering how bad we can be?) Garnacho fluffed a sitter, Spurs keeper made 2 or 3 good saves, if we could finish our chances, we come away there with a good result. Sometimes that's all it is with us, just put the ball in the fucking net.