Man Utd's academy did not play with Ruben Amorim's formation during his 14 months in charge of the club.
Carrick changed the first-team's formation to 4-3-3, the same formation used by the academy(Image: 2026 Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA)
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Manchester United's new academy chief Stephen Torpey has suggested the club's academy teams will continue to operate with the same formation, regardless of who the first team manager is.
Ruben Amorim's formation was a talking point throughout his disastrous 14 months in charge of United, and fans questioned why the academy coaches did not use the same 3-4-3 system as Amorim.
Although some have argued that it would be logical for academy teams to mirror the first-team formation, former head of the academy Nick Cox said it was important to give youngsters a "well-rounded education".
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Torpey was appointed as Cox's replacement in September, and the academy teams have not changed formation under his watch. Since then, Michael Carrick has changed the first-team system to 4-3-3, the formation used by the youth teams, but Carrick is not certain to get the permanent job this summer.
Should United hire a manager who wants the first team to play with a different formation, the academy team will continue to use 4-3-3 in youth fixtures.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News last week, Torpey explained: "My experience tells me having consistency when you work with young children makes a big difference. The reason why we would select a certain system within youth is not because it's a winning formula. It's not because, 'Oh, if we play against this opponent, it means we're going to win'.
We've got to pick the right formula, that's the right system of play that’s going to help us educate individuals within that team sport, and therefore, if we play with a back five or a back four, what does that give us?
"Well, actually playing with a back four means it's harder as a defender because you've got one less body, so therefore they're going to learn more about the game. Playing with a midfield in a certain shape means that you've got the difference between a holding midfielder and attacking midfielders.
Jason Wilcox and Stephen Torpey.(Image: 2025 Manchester United FC)
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"Now that's important, that is really important, not that we play that shape that's going to be the same shape as the first team because tactics is taught really quickly.
"If you can teach players who are positionally savvy, a full-back or a winger could play a wing-back because by the time they arrive at the first team, we actually don't know what [system] the first team will be playing.
"Our duty to these young players is to consistently teach them about the game, the principles of the game, and how they can play positionally in certain areas and zones of the pitch."
Torpey continued: "I think that playing that consistent way, so playing with one 4-3-3 in youth, helps us. But also systems, as we know, they're not rigid anymore, they're fluid, so that's only a starting position.
"It's about teaching the game from that position, but having that set-up means that as an academy we can have alignment, and alignment is the key in youth from my experience, for sure.
"Therefore, when we're talking about players, and when we're talking about building programmes for development plans, we have to base it on some area of the field so that we can teach accordingly throughout the week.
"But if you were to say, change the system every other week because we're playing a certain opponent, or we haven't got certain players available, my experience tells me that that creates more of a hindrance in terms of the young players because they're thinking more about tactics than the principles that they've been taught over that period of time."
Torpey spoke to the MEN for one of the first interviews since his appointment as academy chief, touching on Sir Jim Ratcliffe's view on the academy, rising star JJ Gabriel and more.