Manchester United are quickly proving their latest run of form is no false dawn with a comfortable 3-0 win vs Leicester City proving to be the most recent example.
Ruben Amorim is finally starting to get a turn out of his side, the Man Utd squad now getting versed in what the manager wants from them, and capably executing it.
After Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho broke their goalscoring droughts vs Leicester, the hope is that United start scoring more regularly.
While that remains to be seen, the Man Utd manager is leaving no stone unturned in making this attack multi-faceted as he introduced a new threat vs Leicester.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Man Utd’s new attacking pattern
Throughout his short tenure so far at Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim has been at pains to stress that his formation is not a rigid shape, but just a base from which United play.
The player roles and positional instructions define the style of play rather than a graphic before the game begins, and that was clearer than ever against Leicester.
United settled in their familiar 3-4-2-1 shape but Amorim’s own “marginal gains” philosophy, to borrow from Sir Dave Brailsford, was immediately visible.
The team, not very regularly scoring from open play, had a new attacking pattern on display via Diogo Dalot.
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In the very starting stages of the game, United won a throw-in on the left side but instead of playing it short and building up again, Dalot threw it straight into the mixer with power.
The floated ball caused worry in Leicester’s defence and even though United didn’t score, their intent was clear.
A few minutes later, Dalot got another throw-in on the same side and the playbook was clear now. The near post was targeted with a throw that Rory Delap would be proud of and this time, United won a corner.
Amorim’s team tried this tactic while the game was goalless, and reverted to ball retention when they led, proving the adaptability and increasing game-management skills of the players.
They now have a new way of threatening the opposition’s goal.
Ruben Amorim has been analysed all wrong by ‘experts’
To sum up every struggle under Amorim by pointing towards the formation is lazy analysis and pretty much every ‘expert’ and ‘pundit’ has been guilty of it.
The reality is that Amorim doesn’t just adapt according to the team he plays against, but also changes as per the players he’s fielding.
He said so himself after the Sociedad game, where he praised Casemiro with the caveat that he’s switched things up to lessen the space the Brazilian has to cover.
In contrast, Manuel Ugarte is regularly left to his own devices and cover large swathes of space because his legs allow him to do so.
The set-piece issue has already gone a long way towards being corrected, and this throw-in is another arrow to the bow of United’s increasingly multi-faceted attack.
Ruben Amorim is more than just his formation and it’s time people woke up to that fact.