Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

There is clearly a big change in our aggressive play, two games in a row under him we have scored within a minute because how aggressive we have been with pressing and attacking.

You have to remember neither pep or klopp had it easy in their first season with results.
 
John XII said:
Could work. I think the high workrate of Bruno and Mount could be quite destructive in that area.
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I wouldn't discount Amads workrate. His second goal against PAOK is a recent example, and I think his workrate is the main reason he has been playing RWB so far under Amorim.
 
Damien said:
Yes.

Top 5 possession this season (% figures taken from manutd.com results page):

72% - Man Utd 3:2 Bodo/Glimt (Amorim)
67% - Crystal Palace 0:0 Man Utd (ETH)
65% - Man Utd 7:0 Barnsley (ETH)
60% - Ipswich 1:1 Man Utd (Amorim)
58% - West Ham 2:1 Man Utd (ETH)
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Good news. Both games are teams we'd be expected to dominate the ball against -- but that's the point -- ten Hag wasn't doing that.

We're getting back to getting the basics right already after two games.
 
Wolfbot said:
I'll give you Casemiro, but Shaw has put in outstanding performances at centre back for us before.
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Casemiro's had a couple of good games there before, too. One good thing about him is that he always plays it forward when he's there, which is a bit of an antidote to the ponderous possession we sometimes have when teams sit in.

Of course, one bad thing about him is that he always, always plays it forward, and not always very well. Horses for courses, I guess.
 
Second half of both his games so far have been quite good on the front foot. Better finishing and I think both games could have been comfortable wins. There are promising signs.
 
John XII said:
Could work. I think the high workrate of Bruno and Mount could be quite destructive in that area.
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From what I have seen from his Sporting team, he likes to have a dribbler and playmaker in those number 10 positions. So I will be really surprised if we see Bruno and Mount together as no. 10s. They don't give that variety of profiles that he tends to favour.
 
He said our substitutions were due to fitness, not really about what is best for the team in the game at that moment. I though that was something very visible, after Mount came off for Rashford and Rasmus got really tired our press died.
It is becoming more and more clear who is performing in their respectable position and I expect Amorim to become more confident in his team selection. A little more fitness and he should also be able to make the tactical changes he wants during a match instead of subbing off players coming off injuries or just being very tired.
 
midou said:
He said our substitutions were due to fitness, not really about what is best for the team in the game at that moment. I though that was something very visible, after Mount came off for Rashford and Rasmus got really tired our press died.
It is becoming more and more clear who is performing in their respectable position and I expect Amorim to become more confident in his team selection. A little more fitness and he should also be able to make the tactical changes he wants during a match instead of subbing off players coming off injuries or just being very tired.
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Yeah it makes sense. I thought it looked pre-planned as well. He's had a lot of players returning from injury and a lot of players he needs to test in various positions.
 
Social Faux Pas said:
From what I have seen from his Sporting team, he likes to have a dribbler and playmaker in those number 10 positions. So I will be really surprised if we see Bruno and Mount together as no. 10s. They don't give that variety of profiles that he tends to favour.
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Mainoo as a 10 is an exciting prospect, he has shown for us and England that he is very good at progressing the ball and dribbling
 
DWelbz19 said:
Good news. Both games are teams we'd be expected to dominate the ball against -- but that's the point -- ten Hag wasn't doing that.

We're getting back to getting the basics right already after two games.
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I agree, it seems clear already that the new formation tends to give us more possession. Of course, the other side of that coin is that so far that has mostly been our back 3 passing it between themselves. But at least we are now much more compact and holding the ball more high up on the pitch. It's what you'd expect perhaps from the formational switch. At least that was how it looked when Tuchel arrived at Chelsea and switched to a similar formation - it gave more control (much more than it improved attacking output).
 
Nevermind the opposition, it is CLEAR what he wants the players to do and it looks refreshing. We will see if this can be translated against better opposition - but surely that won't be with the likes of Evans, Antony, or even Bruno as CM.

I am not convinced by his usage of Garnacho in half spaces and Amad out wide, that's my only "worry". And I also think he will love Shaw at LCB, and possibly Dalot once he regains some form.
 
GlasgowRedz said:
There was a point in the first half where Antony had the ball and he went into the space behind the defender and if Antony played him in he'd have been right in behind their defence for a cut back or square ball across the face of goal. The pass involved Antony using his right foot, so it obviously didn't happen!

There was another situation later in the half that was a carbon copy of that too, didn't get the ball then either.
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Yeah Antony straight up refusing to pass to him was infuriating. It’s obvious Amorim wants the 10’s running in behind and picking up those positions like Mount was doing for the cutbacks, we just didn’t execute the passes inside. I think once we get more comfortable you’ll see Mount getting the ball in those positions more often.
 
It was a real headache listening to Robbie Savage all game pontificate on his musings about the finer tactical points of the game. Suddenly after all these years of being a pundit and not once having a tactical opinion, he's now a manager, and so has to justify that by delivering his half-witted ideas to everyone ad-nauseum.

1. "They should have Shaw at LWB and Dalot at RWB to provide balance", not once realising that perhaps Amorim prefers inverted wing-backs and that "balance" is subject to the definitions of the designer.
2. "Why is Martinez pushing right up to press and leaving Malacia to cover 1-on-1?", not realising that the LCB is supposed to press high into midfield to win the ball back high, thus leaving the remaining defenders man-for-man.

If anything was learned, it was that Malacia lost a one-on-one. Nothing more, nothing less. Has nothing to do with what Martinez did, or didn't do.
 
didz said:
Casemiro's had a couple of good games there before, too. One good thing about him is that he always plays it forward when he's there, which is a bit of an antidote to the ponderous possession we sometimes have when teams sit in.

Of course, one bad thing about him is that he always, always plays it forward, and not always very well. Horses for courses, I guess.
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Yes, I agree. He's capable of some unbelievable passes. I actually really like the creativity and goal threat in Casemiro, but he's as likely to give the ball straight to the other team as he is play a defence splitting ball over the top, makes me very nervous when he's in the team.
 
What was interesting in the second half was how he brought on Dalot at LWB, but it was not Dalot providing width on the left, but rather Garnacho. On the ball, Dalot acted as the inside forward from the left, while Garnacho kept width. Off the ball, Dalot was the usual LWB.

Shows his tactical adaptability.
 
Hoof the ball said:
It was a real headache listening to Robbie Savage all game pontificate on his musings about the finer tactical points of the game. Suddenly after all these years of being a pundit and not once having a tactical opinion, he's now a manager, and so has to justify that by delivering his half-witted ideas to everyone ad-nauseum.

1. "They should have Shaw at LWB and Dalot at RWB to provide balance", not once realising that perhaps Amorim prefers inverted wing-backs and that "balance" is subject to the definitions of the designer.
2. "Why is Martinez pushing right up to press and leaving Malacia to cover 1-on-1?", not realising that the LCB is supposed to press high into midfield to win the ball back high, thus leaving the remaining defenders man-for-man.

If anything was learned, it was that Malacia lost a one-on-one. Nothing more, nothing less. Has nothing to do with what Martinez did, or didn't do.
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Exactly, totally disregarding tht we have been making similar errors in a 4231. He's bad enough at the best of times, yesterday it was so unbearable. Its not like it a new thing. Eth has had full-backs invert and either make a 3 at the back or make an extra midfield. A lot of teams attack and defend in different shapes, has he never seen City play. Is every goal that a back four conceded an error of the system?
 
His openness and his determination to succeed will give him alot of breathing space with the media.
 
Zed 101 said:
Mainoo as a 10 is an exciting prospect, he has shown for us and England that he is very good at progressing the ball and dribbling
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Yeah, I agree. I think we’ll see players being tried in various positions to find the best fit for the system. It's going to be exciting and nerve-wrecking at the same time. Quite his openness with his tactics. I was really surprised with Shaw and Casemiro being played as CBs with no recognised center-back to see out the game but they did alright TBF.
 
Did that 6th staff member he was going to bring over (as a sports scientist I think) ever get his work permit approved?

Edit: I think his name was Eduardo Rosalino..
 
justsomebloke said:
I agree, it seems clear already that the new formation tends to give us more possession. Of course, the other side of that coin is that so far that has mostly been our back 3 passing it between themselves. But at least we are now much more compact and holding the ball more high up on the pitch. It's what you'd expect perhaps from the formational switch. At least that was how it looked when Tuchel arrived at Chelsea and switched to a similar formation - it gave more control (much more than it improved attacking output).
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From what I found out about amorim thats how his teams operate, with a lot of possession for the back 3.
 
gvardiol to timber
Haaland to cunha
Mbuemo to saka. It’s done. Palmer captain. Salah vice captain
 
Highfather_24 said:
What was interesting in the second half was how he brought on Dalot at LWB, but it was not Dalot providing width on the left, but rather Garnacho. On the ball, Dalot acted as the inside forward from the left, while Garnacho kept width. Off the ball, Dalot was the usual LWB.

Shows his tactical adaptability.
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This is the one part that seems a mess, Garnacho at the moment doesn't seem to fit, his play is at odds with the team.
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
What are your thoughts on Mount?
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Mount was excellent last night. Apart for his part in the winning goal, he was close to scoring twice, he made incisive passses, pressed, was intelligent on an off the ball. Showed some of the prowess that some of us admired in him in his previous club. This manager/idea will suit Mount, I feel. If he stays fit he will be a major part of the clockwork.
 
Highfather_24 said:
What was interesting in the second half was how he brought on Dalot at LWB, but it was not Dalot providing width on the left, but rather Garnacho. On the ball, Dalot acted as the inside forward from the left, while Garnacho kept width. Off the ball, Dalot was the usual LWB.

Shows his tactical adaptability.
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Found this really impressive. He clearly identified that Garnachos pace was too much for the Bodo defense, and playing him so central was only playing into his limitations.
Seeing him make the change to push Garnacho wide allowed us to be more threatening going forward.
 
Woodzy said:
It's nice to have a manger that's watching the same game as everyone else tbh :lol: The first thing he said post match is that he sees what everybody sees - how many times would ETH try and claim we played well when we played like shit?
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GlasgowRedz said:
There was a point in the first half where Antony had the ball and he went into the space behind the defender and if Antony played him in he'd have been right in behind their defence for a cut back or square ball across the face of goal. The pass involved Antony using his right foot, so it obviously didn't happen!

There was another situation later in the half that was a carbon copy of that too, didn't get the ball then either.
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Mount was actually in an offside position so Antony was correct to not pass it to him
 
Camy89 said:
Any idea why he just stopped? The injuries? Bad advice from McLaren? Habit? Being bald? All of the above?
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I think after we had our first two big losses right at the start of his tenure he then became a bit more pragmatic, setting the top up to be solid and making in game tweaks.

As soon as that season finished he then wanted to install his decided philosophy on the squad and then reverted back to his stubborn belief in what he put out there at the start of the game should be enough to win the game. It became belief in his system over a more pragmatic tinkering approach.
 
Wolfbot said:
Playing with the defensive line quite high and proactively pressing up the pitch is inherently a high risk/reward strategy regardless of the specifics of the system being applied.

It's why we've seen some of the best teams in Europe concede goals like the ones we conceded last night.

It gives you the platform to recover the ball quickly and maintain pressure on the opposition for much of the game. But all it takes is for someone to make and individual mistake, lose a 50-50 in the press or for the opposition to make a couple of slick passes and they can be away on the counter.

I think we'll get better at it, but it'll probably always be how we're likely to concede when playing the three at the back.
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I will take that every day of the week. Only way to consistently win is to control the match.

People have forgotten and we didn't always use to press but even under SAF we mostly controlled the matches. And if we were ever looking for a winner or equalizer we would completely box them in their penalty box and leave Rio to deal with the counters.
 
RedRocket9908 said:
Mount was actually in an offside position so Antony was correct to not pass it to him
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No, he wasn't. He was well onside and held his run for a few seconds, then was offside for a split second before moving back towards Antony looking for the pass which never came.



About 40 seconds into this you can see it.
 
He's got a tune out of these players. He's also intelligently coaching positioning at a very high level. Incredible how much we dominated that second half. You could actually make out the number of times the players were about to play a suicidal quick attack pass - and then seize up, and keep possession. That's a very good sign. You can see clear method and process. It's remarkable how quickly the group have shown discipline with the shape. Defensive transition is something we are struggling with right now, but the more we dominate games with the ball, the more times you learn how to deal with with quick counters. Let's see how they cope against Everton. I expect nothing but ball domination throughout. It's the counters from Everton and how we deal with them I'll be keeping my eye on.

I know we will get thumped at the Emirates. No doubt about it. But I want to see how Amorim sets the team up when you he's basically going against Arteta one hand tied behind his back. Will be fascinating.
 
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