Manchester United legend Jaap Stam
Manchester United legend Jaap Stam
Jaap Stam believes Ruben Amorim is already "frustrated" at Manchester United as he looks to impose his system on the squad.
Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag as United boss earlier this year and the Portuguese has been using the same 3-4-3 formation that he enjoyed great success with during his time in charge of Sporting.
However, results have been mixed so far, with United picking up four wins and suffering four losses in Amorim's nine games in charge to date. And Red Devils legend Stam, who won three league titles with United, has given his thoughts on Amorim's start to life at Old Trafford.
"We can see that Ruben Amorim has a different philosophy to Erik ten Hag and also the managers before that," the former Reading manager told SportLens. "He has his 3-4-3 or a 5-2-3 system and now it's about getting the players to fully adapt to it.
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"You can see that in their positioning that they are trying to fit into the system, but it's not quite been as successful as he would've hoped for just yet. Amorim wants to see that intensity and also more dominance in games, players are still struggling to get to that level that he wants at the moment.
"When I've been at games you can see him looking quite frustrated at times on the touchline. It's a difficult period when you're trying to organise a new system. They have had lots of games so that's less days to work on the system in training and you can see he's not totally happy by the amount of subs he makes."
Stam also feels a number of United players simply cannot cope with the "intensity of the Premier League" and the demands of Amorim's style of play. "We could see what Erik ten Hag was trying to do at Manchester United and how he wanted to play, from his time at Ajax, but the players struggled," he added.
"That is down to both the manager but also the players and whether they can execute the game plan that they are taught when it comes to matches. That's the same big question now with Amorim as it was with Ten Hag, can the players adapt and dominate games in his three at the back system.
Stam believes Ruben Amorim is "frustrated" with his players
"At the moment it's still not very dominant in how they play within the new system despite there being a few wins which was similar for Ten Hag during his start at the club. I think the manager knows that the team isn't up to standard yet, that's why there will also be interest in the transfer window and looking at players that might need to be signed and also players who could head in the other direction.
"You need defenders who can play in big spaces, especially when the wing backs are high up the pitch and two midfielders who can be good in possession but also have the legs to get up and down the pitch.
"The forwards need to be able to make runs in behind but also drop into deep positions, that's why the manager is testing everyone and seeing if they can perform to his standards. We've seen some players struggle with the intensity of the Premier League."
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