CHRIS WHEELER: Why Amorim's tactical system is now clicking at Man United

Manchester United's revival under Ruben Amorim continued after a pulsating 4-2 win over Brighton at Old Trafford gave the Portuguese coach a third straight win and a top-four place only weeks after his job appeared under threat.

Just as importantly was the manner of United’s win, a week after they beat Liverpool at Anfield. Once again, Amorim’s side displayed confidence and no little swagger which suggests that they are finally getting to grips with his system and playing like a United team should.

Summer signings Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were excellent again, contributing three of the four goals as the impressive Casemiro got the other. United had to withstand a late Brighton fightback before Mbeumo’s second sealed a much-deserved victory.

Dogs of war

Way back last December, Amorim warned that his players must ‘run like mad dogs’, but too often they have lacked the intensity and aggression needed to make his system work.

Here, his attacking players like Mbeumo, Cunha and Bruno Fernandes hounded the ball down just as he wanted to help their defence contain an excellent Brighton team.

Early on Mbeumo tracked back brilliantly to deny Yankuba Minteh an almost certain goal, forcing Brighton’s No.11 to scuff wide from Danny Welbeck’s cross. Fernandes did the same to Welbeck, managing to nudge him in the back as he shot straight at Senne Lammens when Georginio Rutter got away from Casemiro.

After Cunha opened the scoring, he showed a huge appetite to defend United’s lead as he hared around his own penalty box to snuff out danger, closing down Mats Wieffer and chasing Minteh all the way towards goal after his fantastic first touch and mazy run almost opened up United.

‘I really like the way he defended,’ said Amorim who also described Mbeumo as a ‘working machine’.

‘He was not jumping all the time. He was not jumping and then returning to position without the right pace. Today he defended really well.’

Classy Casemiro

There have been times when Casemiro’s career at United has seemed to be on the wane.

Dropped in the latter days of Erik ten Hag’s reign, the man often described by the Dutchman as ‘the sand between the stones’ was singled out as one of the club’s unwise buys when Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a minority stake in the club and then marginalised under Amorim, dropping below Toby Collyer in the pecking order.

But Casemiro, still the club’s highest earner on £375,000-a-week, has re-established himself alongside Fernandes in midfield, and is now a regular starter ahead of Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo.

The Brazilian showed why with an excellent performance against Brighton, teeing up the first goal for Cunha and scoring the second himself with the help of a sizeable deflection off Yasin Ayari.

At the age of 33, Casemiro is still putting in the hard yards as well as bringing quality and experience to United’s midfield. Amorim has also adapted the system so a defender or attacker helps make up the numbers against teams who play three or four in midfield.

Luke Shaw did that job on multiple occasions against Brighton, and he jumped in to intercept Jan Paul van Hecke’s pass and touch it away from Georginio Rutter in the build-up to Casemiro’s goal.

Paying tribute to the former Real Madrid star, Amorim said: ‘He's an example for everyone. In the beginning, he was behind every midfielder – even Toby. But he fought and he worked and now he's back in the national team.

‘He's so important for us. Today he ran a lot, he had to press so high and then return and he's doing that. So I'm really pleased with him and the other guys need to look at Casemiro.

‘We understand that football can change really fast. You just need to work for me if you are the best one, or I think you are the best one to play the game. You are going to play the game if you do the right things.’

United they stand

United aren’t just working harder and playing better, there is a mental strength about them now that has been missing for some time under Ten Hag and Amorim.

No matter how well they performed, this was a team that crumbled far too easily when the going got tough, which was clear from the number of times they conceded goals in quick succession.

Now United seem to have a great resilience and mental fortitude to withstand setbacks. After recovering from Cody Gakpo’s equalizer at Anfield to score a late winner against Liverpool through Mbeumo, United absorbed two goals from Brighton and still had enough in the tank to put the game to bed through another late goal from the Cameroonian.

‘We had some moments in the past when the spirit was a little bit different and we suffered more,’ said Amorim. ‘Today we scored the last goal because I felt we could deal with bad moments in a better way than we showed last year.’

Dan’s still the man

It's 11 years since Danny Welbeck left his boyhood club Manchester United to pursue first-team opportunities at Arsenal, Watford and Brighton.

The lad from Longsight has had his fair share of injury problems but, at the age of 34, looks as fit as ever. Indeed, he has been linked with a return to Old Trafford in recent years and might have made the move had United been prepared to offer him a longer contract than Brighton.

On Saturday, he showed great skill and acceleration to get clear of Matthijs de Ligt and set up a chance for Yankuba Minteh, and was a persistent threat before beating Senne Lammens with a fantastic freekick to launch the late Brighton fightback.

There was an unfortunate miscontrol on the edge of his own box when Cunha opened the scoring, but five goals in the last four matches is proof that Welbeck’s still at the top of his game.