How Ruben Amorim is coaching Manchester United to play his 3-4-2 ...

After weeks of devouring articles, watching YouTube videos, and listening to podcasts, fans will finally get their first proper look at Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United today.

United play away against Ipswich Town on Sunday, and all eyes will be on how the 39-year-old sets them up during his first match in charge. What will the formation be? Who will he select in his starting XI? Will we see early glimpses of his distinctive playing style?

For anyone who has lived under a rock in recent weeks, Amorim is staunchly committed to playing a 3-4-2-1 system with three centre-backs, wing-backs hugging the touchline, a staggered midfield duo with two narrow No 10s behind a central striker — shown clearly below in Sporting CP’s most recent game against Braga in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.

There is a case to be made that United’s current squad might not be wholly suited to Amorim’s preferred formation, but a significant stylistic change might be the best option after struggling to implement a clear identity or game model in two and a bit seasons under predecessor Erik ten Hag.

In his first interview with the club’s in-house media, Amorim was keen to focus on the broader characteristics he wants to instil at Old Trafford before getting bogged down with specific systems.

“A lot of people talk about the 3-4-3 and the 4-3-3 and all that stuff, but when I think as a player or as a team-mate of Manchester United, it is not a system or formation, it’s like the character of the players, the way they see the club,” Amorim said.

“So we have to focus on that before everything of how we play, how we press. The most important thing for me at this moment is to create the principles, the identity and the character that we had in the past.”

Perhaps it was a diplomatic response aimed at United’s global fanbase, and the truth is that we do not know how United will set up until they take to the field at Portman Road this afternoon. However, we can seek out some clues from United’s club channel after they released highlights of Amorim’s first training session this week.

With so many first-team players yet to return from international duty, drawing insight into Amorim’s favoured personnel is a largely fruitless task at this stage — not to mention that the club’s media department will have carefully edited the footage to show United’s new patterns in the best light and to avoid giving too much away.

Nevertheless, there are some interesting patterns that Amorim was training the available players in that are worth interrogating.

The first is seen in United’s build-up. Amorim does appear to be teaching a 3-4-2-1 structure in the session, which mirrors the set-up across his coaching career. Specifically, the network of three centre-backs and two central midfielders provides a strong foundation in possession, with Amorim encouraging his players to “keep the ball in the middle” on multiple occasions.

Circulating possession across the back three can help build the tempo of a team’s passing as Amorim typically likes his sides to work the ball from left to right to stretch the opposition, pull them out of shape, and find the spare man when the gap opens up.

This is shown when Amorim speaks to centre-backs Jonny Evans and Leny Yoro during the session, telling the latter to pull wide and “be more open, take the ball, and you already know that they (the opponent) can’t press from here (behind)” when he is playing as a right centre-back.

Amorim’s control in build-up is evidenced in Sporting’s press resistance during last season’s title-winning season — using The Athletic’s playstyle wheel, which outlines how a team play compared with their counterparts across Europe’s top seven domestic leagues.

Looking at Sporting’s press resistance (rated 98 out of 99), only Inter Milan and Manchester City averaged more touches per opposition tackle in the first two-thirds of the pitch, which points to just how focused Amorim is on dictating the play and working the ball upfield in a considered manner.

Amorim’s request to keep the ball in the middle is offset by his call to “play wide” during the session, aiming to find the spare man when his team look to progress forward. This is often seen from a quick switch of play across the back line or a diagonal switch from the central centre-back (or central midfielder) to an onrushing wing-back.

For example, in a game against Porto last season, Sebastian Coates’ long pass to left wing-back Nuno Santos sees the 29-year-old run onto the ball and cross immediately for striker Viktor Gyokeres to head into the bottom corner. With Porto’s back line being so narrow (see slide 1), the space was there for Sporting to exploit in wide areas.

Similarly, Amorim also likes his wing-backs to service the No 10s ahead, who are asked to make runs to the byline for cutbacks and crosses into central areas.

In last season’s clash with Farense, Santos receives the ball from centre-back Matheus Reis, and sees attacking midfielder Pedro Goncalves make a channel run in behind (slide 2). Goncalves drives to the byline before crossing for Gyokeres to finish first time in the six-yard box.

This is a pattern United are clearly working on already.

During the session, there were multiple examples of a diagonal ball played to Tyrell Malacia at left wing-back, with Mason Mount making underlapping channel runs to offer a pass in behind.

Below is an example where Amorim can be heard saying “Again, Ty!” to Malacia as the 25-year-old receives the diagonal ball from Casemiro, before shouting “Good movement, Mase” as Mount drives to the byline to cross for Amad to finish first time — very similar to the Sporting sequence shown above.

This pattern was repeated in the session, this time with Evans playing a diagonal to Malacia. Mount makes a similar run, but this time Malacia turns to recycle possession as his route is blocked.

Still, there was time for one more example with an identical pattern. A diagonal from Evans, a first-time set for Malacia to the underlapping Mount, and a cross for a forward to finish — this time Marcus Rashford.

It was Rashford who played as the nominal centre-forward in Amorim’s first session, but the returning Rasmus Hojlund must be licking his lips at the prospect of targeted crosses to attack between the width of the goalposts.

How Amorim uses his wing-backs is likely to bring the most scrutiny in the coming weeks, given United’s attacking talent in wide areas. He typically likes to combine a dribbling wing-back with a technically-strong one, and is equally comfortable playing an inverted wing-back — as evidenced by the left-footed 17-year-old Geovany Quenda being used at right wing-back this season.

In the examples above, having a naturally left-footed wing-back on the left allowed Malacia to have an open body shape to create angles in Amorim’s attack, but don’t discount the prospect of right-footers Alejandro Garnacho, Noussair Mazraoui or Diogo Dalot starting on that side of the pitch.

Fitness has been an issue since he arrived in Manchester in summer 2023, but Mount’s experience of working in Thomas Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1 at Chelsea might be advantageous as he looks to work his way into Amorim’s plans. The selfless, intelligent running Mount offers could be a crucial attribute in United’s rotational attack.

Finally, Amorim looks keen to instil a defensive intensity in United when they lose possession — and the numbers highlight just how much this is needed.

Only Newcastle have conceded more direct attacks — which are possessions that start in the opponents’ half and result in a shot or opposition touch inside your own penalty area within 15 seconds — in the Premier League than United’s 166 since the start of last season. Erik ten Hag’s United sides looked their most exciting when they were attacking at pace, but also looked horribly vulnerable when they did give up possession — with a defensive record that would not be out of place among relegation candidates.

On multiple occasions in the training video, Amorim blows his whistle to simulate a loss of possession, which required all players to sprint back towards their own goal as quickly as possible.

A strong defensive foundation was at the heart of Sporting’s success under Amorim. Across Europe’s top seven leagues last season, only Arsenal and Feyenoord of the Netherlands had a lower non-penalty expected goals (xG) conceded than Sporting’s 0.78 per 90 minutes.

Looking at Sporting’s playstyle metrics since Amorim’s first full season in charge in 2020-21, you can see that their chance prevention and off-ball intensity were among the strongest — if not the strongest — across Europe. A similarly strong out-of-possession approach would be warmly welcomed at Old Trafford.

Patience might be required for United fans as Amorim looks to impose his style during what is the busiest period of the season.

But the breadcrumbs of information that we have seen so far suggest a drastic change is imminent, and it starts today against Ipswich.

(Top photo: Manchester United, annotations The Athletic)

Mark Carey is a Data Analyst for The Athletic. With his background in research and analytics, he will look to provide data-driven insight across the football world. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkCarey93