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What are Amorim’s top five priorities at Man Utd?
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What are Amorim’s top five priorities at Man Utd?

Manchester United wasted no time getting their man back. The challenge for Ruben Amorim is to act so quickly to rebuild the team from the ground up.

This is a long-term project and yet, after two uncomfortable years for Man UtdAmorim may have to get going.

Here, Alex Keble lists five priorities for Amorim following the Portuguese’s appointment at Old Trafford.

1. Establish a clear identity from the start

This point is the most obvious, the non-negotiable.

Man Utd played without a visible tactical identity throughout Erik Ten HagThis is why Amorim will endear itself to its supporters if there are clear principles from the start.

There is no doubt that this will be the case.

Amorim exclusively uses a three-man defense and almost always plays in a 3-4-3 formation, favoring a high press, proactive possession football and complex passing networks constructed from the back.

Last season, his Sporting Lisbon side were among the most “slow and complex” teams in the Primeira Liga, according to Opta, as shown in the graph below.

Love 2

As for their pressing, Sporting’s PPDA (passes per defensive action), which measures the success of their pressing, is 9.5 this season, which is lower than any sidebar in the Premier League. Tottenham Hotspur (7.8) and Arsenalwith 9.2.

Man Utd need to exhibit some of these traits from day one because more than anything, they are a team that needs structure, discipline and tactical direction.

2. Use Ten Hag’s Improved Defense as a Starting Point

Defense should be Amorim’s base because – and this might come as a surprise – it is arguably the strongest part of the Man Utd team at the moment.

United’s expected goals against (xGA) in the Premier League have fallen only slightly from 1.84 per 90 minutes this season, compared to 1.70 in 2023/24, but the eye test tells a different story .

Ten Hag pushed their defensive line higher, while the addition of Noussair Mazraoui also created a more aggressive defense, capable of intensifying their efforts.

This was the case during Man Utd’s relatively strong performance against Villa Aston (0.50), Brentford (0.86), and Fulham (0.44), all matches in which they conceded an xG below one.

Fulham shots map

Amorim can, in theory, build on Ten Hag’s ideas here with his own throughline.

He will be particularly happy with Mazraoui and Lisandro Martinezalthough Harry Maguire is the only defender on the team with significant experience on defense.

3. Integrate Ugarte into the team

In Ten Hag’s first summer at Old Trafford, he wanted to recruit Frenkie de Jong – a midfielder he had previously worked with – to lead the tactical revolution from the middle, but instead was handed a Totally different type of player. Casemiro.

Amorim won’t need to buy an old favorite to lead the midfield – but only because Man Utd have already signed him.

Manuel Ugarté was the anchor at the heart of Amorim’s two-man midfield in 2022/23, with his combined total of 178 tackles and interceptions the highest in the Primeira Liga.

Ugarte can have the same impact at United, leading a high-intensity pressing game and working to plug the huge gaps in central midfield that appeared so often during the Ten Hag era.

4. Build his attack around Hojlund

The signature of Rasmus Hojlund for a reported fee of £72 million, it was a significant moment in the Ten Hag project, but the young striker is yet to really make his mark.

Fortunately, he has all the traits of an Amorim striker and can be the new fulcrum of United’s attack.

Hojlund’s pressing, directness and power in the penalty box have attracted attention at Atalanta, and in that regard the 21-year-old is not much different from Viktor Gyokeres, who scored 41 goals in 42 Primeira Liga matches under Amorim.

Amorim likes his front three – a power forward with two direct inside forwards sitting just behind – to play with speed and verticality, which makes Hojlund a more natural fit than Joshua Zirkzee.

Zirkzee vs. Hojlund
5. Solve the Rashford and Fernandes puzzles

Two potentially tricky issues loom on the horizon for Amorim.

One is the form of Marcus Rashfordwhich would be a conundrum for any United manager. The other is a problem specific to Amorim’s use of a 3-4-3.

There is no obvious solution for Bruno Fernandesand yet there must surely be a role for a man who created 114 chances in the Premier League last season, two and a half times more than United’s second best in Alexandre Garnachowith 46.

Fernandes doesn’t have the targeted pressing, speed or positional discipline of an Amorim inside forward and it’s hard to imagine him being transformed into a number 6 to sit alongside Ugarte.

It’s a challenge with no obvious solution. Rashford’s form, on the other hand, is perhaps a simpler solution.

Rashford has scored 17 Premier League goals in 2022/23 coming out from the left wing and he is a natural choice for the inside striker role.

Amorim’s high line, hard pressing and vertical possession should – in theory – give Rashford everything he needs to return to his best form.

Rashford 22-23