RUBEN AMORIM can not only solve Marcus Rashford’s form struggles but turn him into one of the Premier League’s best again.
Yet Rashford must first buy into a fresh 3-4-3 philosophy, accept a subtle positional change and desert his love for the left-wing.
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With many United players spending time away on international duty, including Rasmus Hojlund, Rashford would be wise to make use of the extra time spent on the training ground with new boss Amorim.
The 27-year-old has endured some topsy-turvy years after he burst onto the scene in 2016, failing to hit the heights of his 2022-23 season where he scored 30 goals in all competition.
Amorim, 39, is tasked with bringing Rashford’s magic touch back, with the forward scoring just once in 12 Prem games this season.
But how will the new manager, with the confidence of Jose Mourinho and the flare of Pep Guardiola, bring the best of out of Rashford?
Marcus Rashford’s resurrection
A player of Rashford’s quality shouldn’t be written off, but the United academy star must open his heart up to a 3-4-3 formation.
Rashford must let go of his hopes of hanging out on the left-hand side, as Amorim will NOT use two out-and-out wingers, but will instead play with an attacking left-wing back.
Amorim looks set to build two differently profiled so-called No 10s – and Rashford must become one alongside captain Bruno Fernandes.
Fernandes‘ talents mean he’ll pick up the ball-playing No 10 role, leaving Rashford as the driving central player, who runs off the No 9.
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Meanwhile, Rashford could also be reinvented as a central striker with two close 10s to support him, but Hojlund is more likely to thrive in this role.
The England star is used to playing in a 4-3-2-1 formation or as a striker in counter attacking side, so things will have to change.
But if Rashford buys into it early, and focuses on more assists than goals, the United will have a Carrington graduate playing an important role in the club’s future.
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Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation
Amorim has a clear identity. And it seems almost certain that the Portuguese tactician will bring in his winning 3-4-3 structure to M16.
He likes his teams to play through the thirds and to dominate possession when moving the ball out from the back.
Hojlund, a player United haven’t made the best use of, will likely be deployed at No 9.
At Sporting, the formation and style has been built around a mobile, big, physical runner Viktor Gyokeres – and Hojlund can ease into that role.
Fernandes, Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt, Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte all slot into their respective roles.
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And £52million summer signing Leny Yoro has been spotted training at the right hand side of the back three in training clips this week.
What is more constant is that in his 3-4-3 formation, attacking wing-backs are key in all thirds of the pitch.
Amorim has used two defensive midfielders to cover for his wing-backs – who push high up the pitch and stay wide to form a 3-4-2-1.
This also allows his two attacking midfielders to drop into pockets behind a lone striker while still stretching the opposition’s backline.
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Wing and a prayer
Amorim places his wing-backs right up in the attacking areas of the pitch, giving them full freedom of in the flanks.
It will become a 3-2-5 in attack, where the wing-backs are expected to push up in different profiles.
Alejandro Garnacho, Amad Diallo and even Antony could be eased into a wing-back role, as all three have the ability to take on their man in a 1 v 1.
Amorim likes his teams to play through the thirds and to dominate possession when moving the ball out from the back.
For the non-byline running full-backs, Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui can invert to play in the inside channel when attacking.
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Andre Onana’s game
Erik ten Hag bought Andre Onana for £43.7m on the basis of his ability to play out of the back, but the Dutchman couldn’t find a way to utilise David de Gea’s replacement.
Onana will be asked to play into the midfield’s feet, who are expected to take the ball on the half-turn and push up the pitch.
In training this week, there were no long balls to be seen.
It looks like the out-field players will be limited to only two touches before passing it in a zig-zag if they can’t turn, until a channel of space opens up.
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Mainoo main man
Kobbie Mainoo has the ability to be United’s main ball-playing central midfielder.
With the Red Devils looking to start from defence, Mainoo’s role as a deep playmaker has become even more important.
Just 18 months after his first run-out against Charlton Athletic in the League Cup, he was starting the final of Euro 2024. The 19-year-old has the ability to dip his shoulder.
Mainoo fits in nicely next to all-action Manuel Ugarte, who prefers to be tasked with breaking up play.
Ugarte will be well aware of the system used by Amorim having played 85 times under the Portuguese coach in Lisbon, where he started 61 matches.
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Amorim appears to have taken an immediate shine to Mainoo in training his week, with the pair spotted chatting on several occasions.
But all players will expected to get up and down quickly and bust a gut to get back, which has not been witnessed in United games of late.
But the amount of sprinting required could spell the end for Casemiro, who at 32 years old seems to have lost his legs.
Nonetheless, the Real Madrid legend has stepped up in his dressing room role in recent week.
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Ruben Amorim is ‘Mourinho 2.0’ who turned Sporting from ‘walking dead’ into Portuguese champs… he can revive Man Utd
WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.
Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.
But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.
Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.
He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers.
The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.
And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.
Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.
Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.
United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”
And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.
For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
