Ruben Amorim first Man United back three plans in potential disarray amid new injury setback

Ruben Amorim has only been at Manchester United since Monday yet has already suffered an injury setback.

Erik ten Hag’s tenure at the club was riddled with player injury instances, most notably at left-back where Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia were scarcely available for the second half of his reign. Shaw, yet to play for United since February, is back in training.

Meanwhile, Malacia was included for the club’s under-21s on Tuesday evening, having failed to play a game since May 2023. Setbacks in his recovery from serious knee surgery nearly 18 months ago prevented him playing at all last campaign.

READ MORE: Manchester United receive huge Tyrell Malacia injury boost after 517-day absence

READ MORE: Ruben Amorim dealt Manchester United injury blow

And there is more positive injury news. Leny Yoro is thought to be nearing a return having fractured his metatarsal in pre-season and is thus yet to make his competitive United debut. Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount and Harry Maguire might all be back for Amorim’s first game at Ipswich Town on November 24.

Amorim is expected to deploy the 3-4-3 formation he almost exclusively used throughout his time at Sporting CP. The last time United played a back-three at Old Trafford was back in 2021.

So the United squad will have a radical new system to get used to and, ideally, Amorim will have all of his key players available.

Of course, the situation at United has been far from ideal for some time and injury setbacks are part of the game. But the new knock picked up by Lisandro Martinez will come as a slight concern.

He has withdrawn from Argentina duty for this international break because of it, although the severity and nature of his issue is not yet known. Amorim cannot coach training until his visa comes through but he will be keen to learn whether Martinez will be fit in time for his first session.

In a worst case scenario, he might be without Yoro, Martinez and Maguire as he tries to implement his back-three philosophy. It is an unlikely scenario but one the new head coach must prepare for just in case.

That would see a de facto back line of Matthijs de Ligt, Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans out of the remaining natural centre-back options. The average age of his back three at Sporting was 21 years old - in this case it would be 30.

There might be scenarios this season where those three have to be fielded anyway, which will test Amorim’s adaptability. Evans has arguably been United’s best defender this season but how he is viewed by Amorim, only three years older, is unclear.

Lindelof himself is now over 30 while De Ligt has struggled to adapt to Premier League demands so far. The hope is that the knock to Martinez is not overly serious and that Maguire and Yoro are soon to return.

But the possibility of them still being sidelined for Ipswich shows that Amorim is having to juggle with what he has been left with.