Simon Stacpoolevia Getty Images
Whilst Manchester United grow accustomed to Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 system, what we’ve seen in the Portuguese’s opening sixteen games is Manchester United looking flat and slow in possession.
It feels as though teams know exactly how to set up against Amorim’s system, marking the midfield pivots and pressing the three centre-backs in deep build-up.
Space and gaps have been hard to find and Amorim has spoken at length of his United team being ‘anxious’ and ‘nervous’ playing passes that aren’t risky leading to the build-up being slow.
For the time being, the only plan B where Manchester United have had some degree of success in terms of getting the ball smoothly from defence to attack was when Amorim made changes in the second half vs Southampton and opted to go direct and long to Joshua Zirkzee who was able to make the ball stick up front.
The game against Rangers may have offered another solution as players become more comfortable in the system and begin to conjure up solutions with more game time.
Firstly, it was noticeable to see Lisandro Martinez stride forward and cause overloads as a centre-back becoming an extra body in attack. This confuses teams in terms of who to mark as other attackers were busy pinning Rangers’ defence.
This was effective vs Liverpool and it’s encouraging Martinez is doing it again, with the Argentinian getting on the score sheet after overloading Liverpool’s left wing. Martinez took up similar positions vs Rangers, as he provided the assist for Bruno Fernandes’ crucial last minute winner.
With Leny Yoro easing himself in and Matthijs de Ligt excelling more at defending, tackling and heading, Martinez’s line-breaking passes from deep and marauding runs forward make him crucial for Manchester United’s attack as well as the defence.
When Harry Maguire came on in the second half for Leny Yoro, the wing-backs were finally receiving the ball wide.
Wing-backs in Amorim’s system are essential, providing width and half-space runs, but Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot are more defensive-minded and have been forced to drop deeper for the ball.
Though the image above is from Liverpool, the raking pass from Maguire to the wide full-bacl is what we saw vs Rangers. It allowed the forward in the number ten role on the same side to make a darting run into the half-space.
With Maguire as the central centre-back, he possesses the pass in his locker to do this and cut through a team’s press. If De Ligt is deployed in the same position, United lose the distribution Maguire provides and find it much harder to find gaps in an opponent’s block.
Amorim has tinkered with who he plays at CCB, RCB and LCB, but the details and advantages of Martinez at LCB with his overlapping runs and Maguire’s passing as the central centre-back are clear to see.
Martinez’s runs feel spontaneous, and as the Manchester United players get more game time in a settled team under Amorim, the more comfortable they will get in the system and come up with solutions themselves as Martinez has.
It has been an extremely tough opening period for Manchester United, getting used to a coach hellbent on playing a system despite not having the players needed for the formation to excel and not having enough time on the training ground for the players to adapt.
With a game coming every three days until the 16th of February, Amorim has to find a team that develops chemistry.
With both Martinez and Maguire in the team, Manchester United’s progression is miles better.
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Source: Centred Devils
