Ruben Amorim’s tactical plan behind Manchester United’s comeback victory

Manchester United skirted the fine line between sterile possession and patient build-up play in Sunday’s Manchester derby but by full-time Ruben Amorim’s bold selection calls and tactical approach were justified in victory.

Amorim has now beaten Pep Guardiola twice within six weeks after a valedictory win with Sporting in the Champions League. That game scored higher for aesthetics but at the Etihad, Amorim’s new 3-4-3 system gave United a platform first to survive, then thrive.

When United’s new head coach predicted a coming storm this month he probably had trips to Arsenal and City in mind. United now come out of those two fixtures with pride intact, three points from six and not one goal conceded from open play. Having been torn limb from limb in several big away games under Erik ten Hag, it is at least a base camp from which to advance.

They are not flying by any means, and Sunday’s result came from two individual mistakes by Matheus Nunes when conceding a penalty and a glorious, improvised finish by Amad Diallo. Such moments only matter if you stay in the contest though, which United managed to their credit.

United’s back three under Amorim offers additional numbers in their first phase of build-up, with Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martínez backed up by ball-playing goalkeeper André Onana. The quartet are comfortable, if not especially progressive, in possession, and make United hard to press high unless a team risks going man-for-man with United’s speedy forwards.

Man Utd’s average positions and pass map vs City (De Ligt, Maguire and Martinez four, five and six)

The result was that, albeit against a subpar City, United were in the unfamiliar possession of having a foothold in a Premier League game at the Etihad. Their 48.4 per cent of possession was the highest ratio they have enjoyed at City’s ground since Guardiola arrived in 2016.

United also completed more passes and did so at a higher success rate than in any away league game against Guardiola’s team. They attempted more passes in an October 2022 fixture, but tellingly they were 4-0 down at half-time before City slacked off.

United played 273 passes in their own half, and the next stage for Amorim’s team is turning this possession into progression by moving the ball more swiftly beyond the opposition’s midfield. In a fixture such as City away though, slowing the game down and silencing the crowd with a high number of passes is not the worst strategy, even if it was a soporific watch at times. By contrast, when Ten Hag took a United team to the Etihad in March, they managed just 27.1 per cent possession and completed 174 fewer passes.

When it comes to adding more go-forward to United’s play, Amorim will surely look to recruit more dynamic wing-backs than Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot. United’s two most frequent pass combinations against City were from De Ligt to Mazraoui with 28 and Martínez to Dalot with 19. From there, however, Mazraoui’s most frequent combination was back to De Ligt with 13 and likewise Dalot playing back to Martínez.

When Chelsea enjoyed success with the 3-4-3 under Antonio Conte, an ingrained pattern of theirs was wing-backs Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses knocking blind passes around the corner into midfield from the touchline. These are the patterns United are still to bolt on under Amorim. Mazraoui fed his right-sided forward Diallo nine times, but Dalot found Fernandes with just six passes. Diallo completed more take-ons than any player on the pitch, with five.

United also had to defend in a 5-4-1 for long stretches and they did so with discipline. The fear for Amorim’s defensive system in games against Arsenal and City is that their back five would be pinned by three attackers, and the opposition’s number eights would find space either side of an overwhelmed midfield pair. As his touch map shows, Kevin De Bruyne drifted right to try and find this space but was largely ineffective from this position. He did not manage a single touch in United’s box in his 68 minutes on the pitch.

Amorim’s team mitigated the risk of being outnumbered in midfield by Fernandes and Diallo working back alongside Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo. De Ligt and Martínez have also been brave enough to squeeze up and follow their markers into midfield. There is much for United to improve, but Amorim has given them a method for competing in their hardest matches.