When asked what he liked about the Premier League following his appointment at Manchester United, Ruben Amorim simply replied: “Everything.”
Whether that universal adoration is still in tact after his first game in England’s revered top flight remains to be seen.
The highly anticipated debut of Amorim com unitedThe final head coach is a trip to Ipswich Town’s Portman Road on Sunday afternoon. While a meeting with a newly-promoted team that has one win all season might not seem particularly daunting, there is an intricate web of competing narratives throughout the game.
Here are the key factors to consider this weekend.
“On the first day we will start with our identity,” Amorim declared defiantly first interview at the club. “I think you’re going to see an idea. You may like it or not, I don’t know, but you’re going to see an idea. You’re going to see a positioning. You’re going to see something that we want to get to. You’re going to feel that. That, I can guarantee.”
It’s impossible to conclusively predict success in a sport so dramatically shaped by luck, but a team’s style of play is one aspect that an elite manager can immediately affect. Amorim has proposed this challenge.
If United are to replicate the approach of their Sporting CP side, they will be expected to go high and hard, channeling the ball from the wings to the stride of their centre-forward. The Lisbon outfit were willing to cede possession against European opposition – boasting just 28% of the ball while dismantling Manchester City earlier this month, but tended to dominate domestic competition.
Above all, Sporting offered a sense of flair and attacking drive that has been desperately absent from United’s games all season. The 13-time Premier League champions have scored as many goals in the League this season as their newly promoted hosts Ipswich (12).
“It’s not evolution or revolution.” Amorim’s fondness for a back training He has attracted widespread attention throughout the build-up to his first game, but the coach has tried to downplay the importance of that detail ahead of kick-off. It didn’t work.
They were united spotted training with a defensive triumvirate on the week, but they haven’t deployed this system regularly since Louis van Gaal’s reign a decade ago. When the Dutch manager made his debut in the Old Trafford dugout in 2014, Swansea City scored twice against his three-man backline in a 2-1 win.
Beyond the question of which back three will line up in the middle of the defence, the identity of Amorim’s full-backs will offer a telling insight into the coach’s approach. When the 3-5-2 formation took center stage after Argentina won in 1986 World Cuptactical icon Johan Cruyff despaired that the replacement of the winger by the full-back was the “death of football”.
However, Amorim has regularly started as a full-back during his time at Sporting. This season, the young forward wanted Geovany Quenda usually lined up on the right side of the defensive structure.
Amorim could replicate this forward approach by shoeing in Alejandro Garnacho or Amad Diallo on the flanks, or he can opt for a more reserved option of natural full-backs Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot.
Looking beyond the backline, the composition of Manchester United’s midfield will also be crucial. to his presentation press conferenceAmorim gave a blunt assessment of United’s problems. “We lose the ball too often,” he admitted. “We have to be better at running back. I think that’s clear to everyone.”
Bruno Fernandes may be guilty of both inaccuracy and inactivity. The United skipper has always been a stalwart risk taker with his passing profile and has only recently emerged from a creative funk that plagued his opening three months into the season. Where Amorim will find a place for Fernandes, if he is in their plans, will be intriguing.
Amorim also warned: “We need to change the physical aspect of the team.” Manuel Ugarte has remained one of the main beneficiaries of the managerial change after having worked for two years with the Portuguese coach in Lisbon. At Sporting, Ugarte developed a reputation as a decisive destroyer, topping the top-flight charts for combined tackles and interceptions (179) in 2022/23 before his move to Paris Saint-Germain.
If Ugarte is trusted to be Amorim’s steel fist, it will be instructive to see who he chooses as his silk glove to accompany him in the midfield. Kobbie Mainoo’s return to training offers another alternative, and the talented England international is not the only injured figure eyeing some game time.
A potential exit for Leny Yoro would be attractive at any time. After missing the first three months of the season with an ankle injury, the £52m summer recruit could finally make his United debut this weekend.
Yoro lined up in a back-three alongside Jonny Evans and, encouragingly, Luke Shaw during training this week. The England The left-back has not featured for the club since February, working in the treatment room alongside teammate Tyrell Malacia. Both left feet could barely be involved during Sunday’s trip to Suffolk, giving Amorim a far greater balance on the pitch.
While all attention will understandably be on the away dugout, spare a thought for the figure of the home winger. Before overseeing back-to-back promotions in charge of Ipswich Town, Kieran McKenna was a key part of United’s coaching staff.
Promoted from the Under-18s to assistant manager under Jose Mourinho, McKenna was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s number two for almost three years. Unlike Amorim, the Northern Ireland manager has intimate knowledge of most of the players in United’s current squad.
Fresh from leading Ipswich to their first win of the Premier League season against Tottenham Hotspur, the club he played for, McKenna could get one in front of another set of former employers this weekend.
