Man Utd analysis: The forwards likely to play in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation
On Tuesday, we looked at the defenders likely to start in Ruben Amorim’s first XI when he selects his first Manchester United team.
With Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund, Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Antony, Joshua Zirkzee, and Ethan Wheatley all in the mix at Old Trafford, Amorim will not be short of attacking options when he takes the reins.
Here, Sports News Blitz’s George Russell picks the forwards he thinks the Portuguese tactician will turn to.
Amorim at Sporting
This season, Sporting CP have gone for a front three of Trincao on the right, Victor Gyokeres through the middle, and Pedro Goncalves on the left.
How have these forwards performed this season across all competitions?
Goncalves has 11 goal contributions in 11 games (five goals, six assists).
Gyokeres has 27 goal contributions in 17 games (23 goals, four assists).
Trincao has 11 goal contributions in 17 games (three goals, eight assists).
Between the three of them, they have a combined 31 out of 49 goals that the team has scored, giving the front three 63% of goals scored so far.
READ MORE: Man Utd analysis: The defenders likely to play in Ruben Amorim's 3-4-3 formation
Manchester United under Erik ten Hag this season
Ten Hag set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho playing on the flanks and either Joshua Zirkzee or Rasmus Hojlund up top.
On paper, this front three sounds ferocious, but when you delve into the stats you will see why that is not the case.
The four players mentioned above have built up 12 goals. As of writing, Manchester United sit in 13th place ahead of their next match against Leicester City at Old Trafford.
They have only managed to bag nine goals, whilst conceding 12 leaving them on a minus three goal difference.
This season Manchester United have scored 26 goals in all competitions, with over 25% of those goals coming in a 7-0 win over League One side Barnsley.
How can Amorim get the most out of United’s forwards?
Sporting have nearly doubled Manchester United’s goal tally this season and with Amorim appointed, both him and the players will be looking to change that.
Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation is flexible in attack, high in intensity and possession, and very compact defensively.
During the build-up phase one of the three centre-backs step up into midfield to create a narrow, flat three-man midfield. This allows the front three to remain high.
In the progression phase, Amorim likes his team to move into a 3-2-5 formation, with both wing-backs pushed forward, wide in the front line.
This allows for a diamond shape to be made across the three lines of the team (attack, midfield, defence). This creates a variety of rotations and split runs ahead.
In the final third, with many players positioned closely together centrally, we often see direct balls into the forwards, which would be ideal for players such as Hojlund and Zirkzee as they are very renowned for their hold-up play.
These balls into the forwards would allow for quick and fluid combinations in and around the penalty area.
These types of combinations have frequently led to teams tightening up their shape against Amorim’s side to protect the central spaces.
This in turn creates more time and space for the wing-backs, with a constant threat of three or four players attacking the box.
This season, Amorim has played a much narrower version of 3-4-3, nearer to a 3-4-2-1.
This will allow for players such as Bruno Fernandes to start in the front line. Usually, in Amorim’s line-ups, the front three consists of two attacking midfielders playing closely to the striker.
With club captain Fernandes securing his place automatically, the second spot will most likely be filled by Garnacho, with the two of them firing the bullets for Hojlund.
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Why it didn’t work out for Erik ten Hag
As we know from watching Manchester United play for three years under Ten Hag, he favoured a much more transitional style of play against the bigger and more possession-dominant sides, which on many occasions led to United conceding three or more goals against them.
This meant that the games United played against the more possessional sides were spent out of possession, meaning their press had to be top top tier, however it wasn’t.
Ten Hag would often play Fernandes alongside the likes of Rashford or Garnacho.
He would do this against the big teams to accommodate for a lack of tracking back from the forward duo.
United would tend to go for a lop-sided press against the majority of teams. This is where the wide players would press both the centre-backs with the central forward on the number six.
In doing this, United’s full-backs had to sit deep to stay with the wingers which left huge spaces up and down United’s flanks for the opposition’s deeper lying wide players to exploit.
With the way Amorim sets up defensively, this is much more difficult for teams to play into the spaces - instead they have to try and play out intricately, or just ‘pump it long’.
This season Amorim has had an average of 65% possession in the league, meaning that his style of play likes to control games and constantly be on the front foot.
When comparing this to Ten Hag’s United this season at 52% possession, it is clear that a lot of Manchester United’s games under the Dutchman were incredibly even.
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