Man United head coach Ruben Amorim has some big calls to make ahead of next Sunday's Premier League opener against Arsenal.
George is a Senior Football Writer for the Manchester Evening News, mostly covering Manchester United. He previously worked for football.london before joining the MEN team in July 2021. As well as covering United, George is a Championship-enthusiast and co-hosts The Championship Chat Podcast (@Champchatpod24), which you can find on all major podcast platforms.
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim issues an instruction from the touchline.
Ruben Amorim has some big calls to make.(Image: Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images.)
There are three guarantees in life: death, taxes and Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim mixing up his back-three.
Four games into United's pre-season campaign and the Portuguese chief has already deployed four different centre-back combinations.
Pre-season is as good a time as any for any manager or coach to experiment and test the water, but the level of tinkering usually slows the closer the start of the season gets. Over the course of United's first four friendlies, Amorim has made a total of 18 changes to his starting line-up.
Saturday's visit of Fiorentina to Old Trafford will mark the Reds' final warm up match ahead of the competitive action getting under way next weekend. Arsenal will visit M16 a-week-on-Sunday for what promises to be exciting curtain-raiser.
With a little over a week to go until the visit of the Gunners, Amorim is highly likely to use the visit of Fiorentina to deploy as close an XI to the one he has in mind for the season opener.
With the exception of Andre Onana, who is closing in on a return from injury, and incoming signing Benjamin Sesko, everyone who will have realistic ambitions of starting against Mikel Arteta's side is set to be available for the final warm up match. However, some players are more guaranteed of a starting berth next weekend than others.
One of the biggest elements of intrigue ahead of the Premier League opener will surround what the defence looks like. As already highlighted, Amorim has tinkered with his defensive line so far this summer, deploying a different back-three for reach of United's opening four friendlies.
After Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt and Luke Shaw got the nod for the first game against Leeds, De Ligt was the only survivor for the win over West Ham United, being joined in the back line by Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven.
For the following game against Bournemouth, which saw United produce an excellent performance, winning 4-1, Harry Maguire and Shaw came in at the expense of De Ligt and Heaven. De Ligt then returned for the final game of the pre-season tour against Everton, starting sandwiched between Yoro and Shaw.
Luke Shaw in action for Manchester United against Everton.
Luke Shaw (left) will have ambitions of starting against Arsenal next weekend.
Accounting for all of the changes, Yoro, who started all three games in the US, De Ligt and Shaw have started three games apiece in pre-season thus far. Maguire and Heaven, however, have started just one game each.
With that in mind, it could be suggested Yoro, De Ligt and Shaw make up Amorim's preferred back-three ahead of the season opener in just over a week's time. Yoro was excellent in the US, showing a keen hunger to get on the ball, step out from the back and get United on the front foot.
De Ligt also enjoyed a solid tour, producing some accomplished performances. Shaw, too, did his chances of getting his United career back on track after an injury-plagued couple of years no harm.
With the clash with Fiorentina marking United's final friendly of the summer, there is a very strong chance Amorim will deploy the team, with the exception for one or two, as documented above, he has in mind for the tussle with Arsenal.
Yoro is a shoo-in at right-sided centre-back and has been excellent so far this season pre-season. However, there is a less of a guarantee over who will start in the middle and on the left.
Maguire enjoyed a solid season last term, reviving his United career, but De Ligt will equally believe he is worthy of starting in the middle. The best situation Amorim can hope for is the pair of them pushing each other every step of the way and creating healthy competition.
Matthijs de Ligt in action for Manchester United in pre-season.
Matthijs de Ligt will be hoping to continue improving.(Image: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images.)
On the left, Shaw and Heaven are currently battling it out to start the season opener. However, a little further down the line, they will face competition from Lisandro Martinez, who has been sidelined since February with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
Competition for places is exactly what United and Amorim need, and the club's centre-back department, once everyone is fit, will be very competitive.
Pre-season was always likely to decide the landscape of United's defence ahead of the new season and there is just one audition round left.