Pressing Issues

The Players Are “Really Trying And They Want This”

For all the analysis that will go into how Ruben Amorim’s highly discussed 3-4-3 worked or didn’t work against Ipswich, the Portuguese-man was full of praise for his team’s effort and desire to make this new system work, without any prior experience of it.

At moments, particularly the middle period of the second half, Manchester United looked confident in their new shape and comfortable on the ball. There were numerous misunderstandings: misplaced passes, through balls to non-runners and other teething problems. But one thing was clear to the new boss: the players were really trying.

As a new manager, this is probably all he can ask for from a squad which isn’t tailored to his unique style of play. He has the trust of the players that his philosophy can take United back to where they want to be.

Makeshift and Make-do

Working with a squad that isn’t ‘his’ and with players he only met a few days ago, Amorim should be commended for his ability to communicate his footballing ideal unto his players. However, it wasn’t sustained throughout the game – the result of both a short time frame Amorim has worked in, but also an issue with the players he is working with.

Jonny Evans and Noussair Mazraoui at centre back and Amad Diallo at wing back formed a makeshift defence for United. Diallo looked electric going forward at times, but his defensive weakness was repeatedly exploited and should have led to a goal. Evans was completely outclassed by Ipswich’s Omari Hutchinson, who was an absolute live-wire for the home team.

Christian Eriksen starting alongside Casemiro formed a midfield which were able to drop deep and help in build up, but really struggled to sustain meaningful possession in the opposition half. This left United’s attempts to find space heavily reliant on Dalot or Diallo beating their man wide in their own half – a high risk, low reward approach.

Amorim will take this knowledge and immediately try and come up with solutions to the issue – which will probably be related to personnel changes more so than tactical tweaks.

Keane: They Lacked Confidence and Belief

Certain senior players may also have caught their new boss’s eye for the wrong reason this afternoon.

Alejandro Garnacho comes to mind as being repeatedly wasteful – having missed a big chance, and failing to provide end product from good counterattacking positions.

Marcus Rashford was also largely absent after his goal got Amorim’s reign off to a flyer. The Englishman only managed 13 touches in 68 minutes.

Captain Bruno Fernandes also struggled to be involved in the game in the final third, often having to drop deep and play long passes. This was a big part in United’s early goal, but Amorim will likely want Fernandes positioned where he is the biggest threat, but he was unable to achieve that at the first time of trying.

It is these performances that may be more concerning to Amorim. He will have been aware of the makeshift nature of aspects of the team, but will perhaps have been caught of guard by his senior players lack of end product – and that they were “fearful to go on and win the game” as Sky Sports’ Roy Keane said.

Contradicting Ambition

Despite his players lacking any cutting edge desire to win the game, the new boss wasn’t afraid to throw on attacking players in pursuit of finding a winner.

Substitute strikers Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund were both given 20 minutes to find a goal – a move that showed real intent from Amorim. They both offered an additional body further up the field, and Zirkzee had a good opportunity for a shot late on, but didn’t have the quality to deliver in the moment.

Both of Amorim’s wing backs played fairly high up the pitch (as we would expect), but were limited by the lack of options they found themselves with in midfield. Casemiro and Eriksen offered limited support, so the whole team struggled progressing the ball from their own half. This led to very few dynamic movements or shifts in tempo when United were in possession.

Even in the last few moments, Amorim was running up and down the touchline giving out instructions, but his ambition was clearly not reflected by his players – who looked happy to settle for 1-1. The 39-year-old criticised his team’s decision-making and stated that “we are doing some things not in the right moment and that’s what we have to address”.

3-4-3 Is Not Bulletproof

For the hours of analysis done on how Amorim’s 3-4-3 is ‘revolutionary’ or ‘will break the Premier League’, there were large portions of the game where Ipswich looked entirely comfortable pressing high out of possession, and confident getting forward – essentially exactly how they normally play.

Ipswich are unlucky not to take more than a point from their performance this afternoon: putting up 2.12 expected goals to Manchester United’s 0.98. This is indicative that there are definitely pressure points of Amorim’s system.

This is probably attributed largely to the previously discussed personnel problems: Ipswich were allowed plenty of time on the ball in midfield, Omari Hutchinson created problems from the right-hand half-space every time he got the ball, and United’s predictable, one-tone nature of build up led to them often resorting to long balls to avoid being caught by Ipswich’s press.

Amorim will of course, be aware of the weaknesses that his philosophy has, but it is down to him to prevent his side becoming exposed to these.

In summary, there are definitely a series of vulnerabilities that other Premier League teams will identify having watched this afternoon’s match. While January reinforcements may be just around the corner, United will play 7 more Premier League games before the transfer window opens – the next 3 being Everton, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.