Manchester United didn’t play particularly well in Ruben Amorim’s first match in charge, a 1-1 away draw against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
That wasn’t particular surprising, considering Amorim had only had a couple of days on the training ground with his key players, most of whom were away on international duty last week, and given he switched to a radically different formation to the one used by predecessor Erik ten Hag.
So what was more significant about yesterday were United’s intentions rather than their actual level of performance.
Incoming managers don’t always copy and paste their previous approach onto their new squad, but in this case Amorim’s game plan was very familiar from his past four years in charge of Lisbon’s Sporting CP. What looked like a 4-2-3-1 on paper was, in fact, a 3-4-3, and the goal Marcus Rashford scored within 90 seconds of the opening kick-off featured a couple of significant elements.
The first was that it came from United playing out from the back, with Matthijs De Ligt — the middle of the three centre-backs — stepping forward into midfield to allow them to build up with just two centre-backs, Jonny Evans and Noussair Mazraoui. This was one of the most notable features of Amorim’s approach with Sporting, and frees one of the central midfielders — in this case, Christian Eriksen — to push on in advance of his partner and become a third attacking midfielder.
Perhaps more relevantly, there was the fact that United switched play.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana initially played the ball left to Evans, with Ipswich’s four attacking players pressing towards that side. But then Evans passed it back to Onana, who then sent it across to Mazraoui…
…and he, in turn played it to Amad on the far side. That fifth ‘defender’ caused problems for Ipswich, who pressed with their front four. The only player free to press Amad was Leif Davis, but he was slow to close down, and found himself bypassed after the 22-year-old Ivorian’s one-two with Bruno Fernandes…
…and Amad dribbled forward to cross for Rashford to prod home.
That was the dream start, and it proved to be the highlight of the afternoon for United — their passing was rarely as fluent as that over the remaining 88 minutes.
But there was still a noticeable commitment to switch play, bypass Ipswich’s press laterally, and get players running forward on the opposite flank.
This was a very unusual attempted switch from Amad, which was intercepted by the strong winds of Storm Bert, which caused chaos across the UK this weekend, as much as anyone else. He was presumably trying to find Diogo Dalot on the near side.
Long passes like that were a risk. But when United played two sideways balls in succession, they switched play between the wing-backs effectively. Lots of Ipswich players were located on the near side when Dalot was in possession, but his pass inside to Fernandes, and the captain’s subsequent one to the far side, got Amad running at Davis in space.
Here’s an example of something similar from a throw-in.
Look at the extent to which Ipswich are crowding the near side — five players outside the width of the box, and another three just inside it. That left space on the far side, so Dalot threw the ball infield to right-sided centre-back Mazraoui, who in turn played it out to Amad, who again received in space.
Here’s a more intricate example.
Again, Dalot was on the ball with three players close to him, and three fairly close by. He went backwards to Evans, who missed out De Ligt with a crossfield pass to Mazraoui…
…who passes out to Amad, who played it back inside to Fernandes. That’s the exact pattern which brought the Rashford goal.
Things are different here, with Fernandes feeding Eriksen, who played it back out to Dalot.
This was an example of how United are still getting to grips with the system, because Alejandro Garnacho found himself almost on top of Dalot, and sprinted inside late in the day.
The move ended with this fairly harmless ball from Dalot into the box but United had got themselves out of being pressed by moving from the left, to the right, and then back to the left.
United kept on trying the same type of moves.
In the second half, from an Amad throw-in, Mazraoui sent a big long ball all the way across to Dalot…
…who headed it inside to Fernandes…
…whose ambitious stabbed pass curled away from Dalot.
And even in stoppage time at the end, United’s best moments came from long switches of play.
Twice, substitute Manuel Ugarte sent long balls out to Amad. The first one was slightly behind him, and led to nothing…
..but 30 seconds later he played a similar pass in a more driven manner…
…finding Amad higher up the pitch with space to attack in-behind Davis…
…and he dribbled inside for United’s final shot of the game, which was blocked.
In truth, it wouldn’t have been a deserved winner, based on the balance of play. But it would have been a suitable winner, based on how United tried to attack.
More cohesion will come with time, and more individual quality is needed in attacking zones. But those switches of play, largely involving the wide centre-backs and the wing-backs, are likely to be a key part of Amorim’s approach.
