5 things we learned from Ruben Amorim’s first training session at Man Utd

Manchester United’s non-international players took part in new head coach Ruben Amorim’s first training session on Monday.

Winter has fallen hard, and suddenly, on the UK over the past few days, but the players and staff appeared in high spirits as they took to the Carrington pitch together.

Amorim has brought with him five coaches from the former Sporting CP club in an attempt to revitalize the United squad inherited from Erik ten Hag, and he has been primarily responsible for unlocking inner potential instead of relying on the transfer market.

here, 90 minutes consider five key points of the session.

We all know that Amorim speaks impeccable English from several press conferences in recent times as well as his own first official interview since he arrived at United. But his ability to communicate clearly extends to training camp as well, as he was seen and heard shouting instructions during the opening session.

In one instance, Amorim was seen looking at his watch and yelling “let’s go” to the players when a drill didn’t restart quickly enough to his satisfaction.

Sir Alex Ferguson famously used to delegate training to the coaching staff while he usually watched. The legendary old head he was the archetypal ‘manager’, a role that has ceased to exist at the top of modern professional football. It was telling that Amorim was introduced as United’s first ‘head coach’ and he seems to be doing most of the coaching in training.

Other coaches are likely to direct the work more with individuals or smaller groups, or focus on specific key aspects, but Amorim is the main man and is at the heart of it all.

Leny Yoro, Tyrell Malacia and Luke Shaw were a big part of the opening day practice and none have played a role so far this season. Yoro picked up a foot injury in his first pre-season outing after arriving from Lille and is essentially a new signing, while Shaw has not played club football since February, and that of Malacia. last appearance in the first team it was in May 2023.

Having all three potentially in a place where they can get involved as soon as the campaign resumes, or very soon after, is a huge boost.

It’s been a lot written and spoken on whether Amorim will change United, who have always used a 4-4-2 or variants of a 4-3-3 for most fans’ living memory.

The Portuguese built his success at Sporting CP with a 3-4-3, a system similar to that used by Antonio Conte to deliver the Premier League title to Chelsea in 2016/17, and there is already evidence of a change

The personnel will be adjusted when Amorim has a full set of players to use after the international break, but it was clear that a practice match on the first day was set with a third. This saw Yoro at right centre, Jonny Evans in the middle and Luke Shaw at left centre. The latter played that role for England as recently as last summer’s Euro 2024 quarter-final. It’s less physically demanding than a typical fullback or fullback role, but will suit his defensive ability.

It has become the norm for managers to not want to see a goalkeeper throwing the ball around for long in midfield and risk easily losing possession, but United have certainly been one to they have been late to the trend of playing from the back.

Former goalkeeper David de Gea wasn’t made for this style of play, but one of the reasons Erik ten Hag was so keen on Andre Onana was because United could have the benefit of his feet. Amorim won’t change that, with training showing in one particular passage of play how he aims to build from a goal-kicking situation, starting with a short pass inside the six-yard box.

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