Ruben Amorim has admitted he is \u201ctrying\u201d to shift away from the 3-4-2-1 shape that has defined Manchester United since his arrival. The head coach\u2019s comments follow a 3-1 loss to Brentford that was United\u2019s third league defeat in their opening six games.<\/p>\n
The defeat, against a Brentford side whose primary aim is to avoid relegation, exposed structural issues. Bees boss Keith Andrews summarised how his side exploited United\u2019s formation: \u201cYou try and create overloads\u201d, the former set-piece coach outlined. \u201cOne of which would be if we have a three-man midfield, they have a two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amorim acknowledged the need for adaptation and hinted at tactical flexibility while speaking to TNT Sports. \u201cI think again the fun part is trying to adapt the way you see football to every system of the the opponent,\u201d he told TNT Sports . \u201cI\u2019m always saying the same thing. This is going to evolve. We are going to change the the system. But it\u2019s not a normal system and sometimes you take longer to go from this system to another systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019m just trying to coach the team the way I see football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defender Matthijs de Ligt argued that individual performances \u2014 including his own \u2014 are more to blame than the system. The persistent selection of players who lack the natural attributes for the 3-4-2-1 is also highlighted as a factor undermining those individual displays.<\/p>\n
Despite Amorim\u2019s stated willingness to adapt, opponents now approach matches with a clear idea of how United will set up. The coach admitted the pattern is recognisable: \u201cThe funny thing is that you need to have like a team to understand\u2014not the outcome\u2014but you already understand how the game will be, [if] we are going to have control,\u201d the former Sporting CP coach explained. \u201cThis is going to happen. Maybe we lose because of one transition or one set pieces, but the game is going to be like this. ]\u201d<\/p>\n
The manager\u2019s attempt to recalibrate his approach is underway, but results and performances suggest the transition will not be straightforward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amorim says he is ‘trying’ to adapt his system after United’s 3-1 defeat left questions over 3-4-2-1. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,969],"tags":[1081,1021,1041],"class_list":["post-3441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-premier-league","tag-adaptation","tag-amorim","tag-amorim-concerns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}