How Ruben Amorim trains Manchester United to play his 3-4-2-1 formation

After weeks of devouring articles, watching YouTube videos and listening to podcasts, fans will finally get their first proper look at Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United today.

United play away to Ipswich Town on Sunday and all eyes will be on how the 39-year-old sets them up during his first game in charge. What will the formation be? Who will he pick in his starting XI? Will we see early glimpses of his signature style of play?

For anyone who has been living under a rock in recent weeks, Amorim is firmly committed to playing a 3-4-2-1 system with three centre-backs, wing-backs hugging the touchline, a staggered midfield duo with two narrow nos . 10s behind a central striker — shown clearly below in Sporting CP’s recent match against Braga in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.

There is a case to be made that United’s current squad may not be quite suited to Amorim’s preferred formation, but a significant stylistic change may be the best option after struggling to implement a clear identity or model of play in two-and-a-half seasons under predecessor Erik ten Hag.

In his first interview with the club’s internal media, Amorim was keen to focus on the wider characteristics he wants to instill at Old Trafford before getting stuck with specific systems.

“A lot of people talk about 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 and all that, but when I think as a player or a teammate of Manchester United, it’s not a system or a formation, it’s like the character of the players, the way they watching the club,” Amorim said.

“So we have to focus on that before everything about how we play, how we press. The most important thing for me at this moment is to create the principles, the identity and the character that we had before.”

Perhaps it was a diplomatic response aimed at United’s global fan base and the truth is we won’t know how United line up until they take to the pitch at Portman Road this afternoon. But we can seek out some clues from United’s club channel after they released highlights from Amorim’s first training session this week.

With so many first-team players yet to return from international duty, it is a largely fruitless task to gain insight into Amorim’s preferred personnel at this stage – not to mention that the club’s media department will have carefully edited the footage to show United’s new patterns in the best light and to avoid giving too much away.

Nevertheless, there are some interesting patterns that Amorim trained the available players in that are worth interrogating.

The first can be seen in United’s structure. Amorim looks set to teach a 3-4-2-1 structure in the session, which mirrors the set-up across his coaching career. Specifically, the network of three central defenders and two central midfielders provides a strong foundation in possession, with Amorim urging his players to “keep the ball in the middle” on several occasions.

Circulating possession across the back three can help build the pace of a team’s passing, as Amorim typically likes his sides to work the ball from left to right to stretch the opposition, draw them out of shape and find the extra man, when the hole opens. .

This is shown when Amorim speaks to centre-backs Jonny Evans and Leny Yoro during the session, telling the latter to pull wide and “be more open, take the ball and you already know they (the opposition) can’t press from here (behind) ”, when he plays as a right central defender.

Amorim’s control in the build-up is evident from Sporting’s press resistance during last season’s title-winning season — using Athletics‘s style of play wheel, which outlines how a team plays compared to their counterparts across Europe’s top seven domestic leagues.

Looking at Sporting’s press resistance (rated 98 out of 99), only Inter Milan and Manchester City averaged more touches per game. opposition tackle in the first two-thirds of the field, which shows how focused Amorim is on dictating play and working the ball upfield in a deliberate manner.

Amorim’s request to keep the ball in the middle is offset by his call to “play wide” during the session, aiming to find the extra man as his team look forward. This is often seen from a quick change of play across the back line or a diagonal switch from the central centre-back (or central midfielder) to an advancing wing-back.

For example, in a game against Porto last season, Sebastian Coates’ long pass to left wing-back Nuno Santos saw the 29-year-old run onto the ball and cross immediately for striker Viktor Gyokere’s header into the bottom corner . With Porto’s back line so narrow (see slide 1), the space was there for Sporting to exploit in wide areas.

Similarly, Amorim also likes his wing-backs to service the no. The 10s in front, who are asked to drive to the byline for cuts and crosses into central areas.

In last season’s clash with Farense, Santos receives the ball from centre-back Matheus Reis and sees attacking midfielder Pedro Goncalves make a channel in behind (slide 2). Goncalves drives to the town line before crossing for Gyokeres to finish first in the six-yard box.

This is a pattern United are clearly already working on.

During the session there were several examples of a diagonal ball being played to Tyrell Malacia at left wing-back, with Mason Mount making underlap channel runs to offer a pass in behind.

Below is an example where Amorim can be heard saying “Again, Ty!” to Malacia as the 25-year-old receives the diagonal ball from Casemiro before shouting “Good move, Mase” as Mount drives to the touchline to cross for Amad to finish first – very similar to the sporting sequence shown above.

This pattern was repeated in the session, this time with Evans playing a diagonal to Malacia. Mount makes a similar run but this time Malacia turns to recycle possession as his route is blocked.

Still, there was time for another example with an identical pattern. A diagonal from Evans, a first-time set for Malacia to the overlapping Mount, and a cross for a forward to finish – this time Marcus Rashford.

It was Rashford who played as the nominal center forward in Amorim’s first session, but the returning Rasmus Hojlund must be licking his lips at the prospect of targeted crosses to attack between the posts.

How Amorim uses his wing-backs is likely to bring the most scrutiny in the coming weeks, given United’s attacking talent in wide areas. He typically likes to combine a dribbling wing-back with a technically strong one, and is equally comfortable playing an inverted wing-back – as evidenced by left-footed 17-year-old Geovany Quenda being used as a right wing- back. season.

In the examples above, a natural left-footed wing-back on the left allowed Malacia to have an open body shape to create angles in Amorim’s attack, but don’t rule out the prospect of right-footed players Alejandro Garnacho, Noussair Mazraoui or Diogo Dalot starting on that side of the pitch.

Fitness has been an issue since arriving in Manchester in the summer of 2023, but Mount’s experience working in Thomas Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1 at Chelsea could be beneficial as he looks to work his way into Amorim’s plans. The unselfish, intelligent running Mount offers could be a defining feature of United’s rotational attack.

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Finally, Amorim looks to instill a defensive intensity in United when they lose possession – and the numbers underline just how much that is needed.

Only Newcastle have conceded more direct attacks – which are possessions that start in the opposition half and result in a shot or opposition touch inside your own penalty area within 15 seconds – in the Premier League than United’s 166 since the start of last season. Erik ten Hag’s United side looked most exciting when they attacked at pace, but also looked terribly vulnerable when they gave up possession – with a defensive record that wouldn’t be out of place among relegation contenders.

On several occasions in the training video, Amorim blows the whistle to simulate a loss of possession, which required all players to sprint back towards their own goal as quickly as possible.

A strong defensive foundation was at the heart of Sporting’s success under Amorim. Across Europe’s top seven leagues last season, only Arsenal and Feyenoord of the Netherlands had a lower expected goal without penalties (xG) than Sporting’s 0.78 per. 90 minutes.

Looking at Sporting’s style of play metrics since Amorim’s first full season in charge in 2020-21, you can see that their chance prevention and off-ball intensity were among the strongest – if not the strongest – in all of Europe. A similarly strong approach from possession would be warmly welcomed at Old Trafford.

Patience may be required for United fans as Amorim looks to impose his style in the busiest period of the season.

But the scraps of information we’ve seen so far suggest a drastic change is imminent, starting today against Ipswich.

(Top photo: Manchester United, annotations The Athletic)