Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim admitted that he is “trying” to work towards a position where he can move away from his cherished 3-4-2-1 system.
That represents a significant shift in stance for a manager who less than two weeks ago declared that “not even the pope” could get him to drop his favoured formation.
United’s recent results have been even more convincing than a letter from the papacy. Saturday’s grim 3–1 defeat to Brentford represented the club’s third league defeat from their opening six games as United were comfortably dismantled by an opponent whose main aim is simply to avoid relegation.
Bees boss Keith Andrews needed just two sentences to explain how his side exposed the flaws of Amorim’s 3-4-2-1. “You try and create overloads”, the former set-piece coach outlined. “One of which would be if we have a three-man midfield, they have a two.”
For the first time, Amorim hinted at some whisper of flexibility going forward. “I think again the fun part is trying to adapt the way you see football to every system of the opponent,” he told TNT Sports. “I’m always saying the same thing. This is going to evolve. We are going to change the the system. But it’s not a normal system and sometimes you take longer to go from this system to another systems.
“And that’s what I’m doing. I’m just trying to coach the team the way I see football.”
Matthijs de Ligt argued that the individual performance of the players—himself included—is more to blame than the system. However, Amorim’s insistence on shoehorning players which don’t possess the natural qualities to thrive in that formation isn’t going to help these under-performing individuals.
