When asked what he liked about the Premier League following his appointment at Manchester United, Ruben Amorim simply answered: “Everything.”
Whether that universal adoration is still in tact after his first match in England’s revered top flight, remains to be seen.
Amorim’s highly-anticipated debut as United‘s latest head coach is a trip to Ipswich Town’s Portman Road on Sunday afternoon. While a meeting with a newly promoted side who boast one win all season may not appear to be particularly daunting, there is an intricate web of competing narratives draped all over the fixture.
Here are the key factors to keep an eye on this weekend.
“Day one we will start with our identity,” Amorim defiantly declared in his first interview at the club. “I think you will see an idea. You could like it or not, I don’t know, but you will see an idea. You will see a positioning. You will see something that we want to reach. You will feel that. This, I can guarantee.”
Success is impossible to conclusively predict in a sport that is shaped so dramatically by luck, but a team’s style of play is one aspect that an elite manager can impact immediately. Amorim has set himself that challenge.
If United are to replicate the approach of his Sporting CP side, they will be expected to press high and hard, funnelling the ball from the flanks into the stride of their centre forward. The Lisbon outfit were willing to cede possession against European opposition – they boasted just 28% of the ball while dismantling Manchester City earlier this month – but tended to dominate in domestic competition.
Above all, Sporting offered a sense of flair and attacking thrust which has been desperately absent from United’s matches all season. The 13-time Premier League champions have scored as many league goals this term as their freshly promoted hosts, Ipswich (12).
“It’s not evolution or revolution.” Amorim’s fondness of a back-three formation has attracted widespread attention throughout the buildup to his first match, but the coach tried to downplay the significance of this detail ahead of kick off. It hasn’t worked.
United were spotted training with a defensive triumvirate in the week, but have not regularly deployed that system since Louis van Gaal’s reign a decade ago. When the Dutch coach 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 three defenders will line up in the middle of defence, the identity of Amorim’s wing-backs will offer a telling insight into the coach’s approach. When the 3-5-2 formation rose to prominence after Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, the tactical icon Johan Cruyff despaired that the replacement of the winger with the wing-back was the “death of football”.
However, Amorim has regularly started wingers at wing-back during his time at Sporting. This season, the sought-after young forward Geovany Quenda routinely lined up on the right-hand side of the defensive structure.
Amorim could replicate that front-foot approach by shoehorning the likes of Alejandro Garnacho or Amad Diallo onto the flanks, or may opt for a more reserved choice of natural full-backs Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot.
Looking beyond the backline, the makeup of Manchester United’s midfield will also be crucial. At his introductory press conference, Amorim gave a blunt appraisal of United’s problems. “We lose the ball too often,” he admitted. “We have to be better on running back. I think that is clear for everybody.”
Bruno Fernandes can be guilty of both inaccuracy and inactivity. The United skipper has always been unflinchingly high-risk with his passing profile and only recently broke out of a creative funk which plagued his opening three months of the season. Where Amorim will find a spot for Fernandes – if he is in his plans at all – will be intriguing.
Amorim also warned: “We have to change the physical aspect of the team.” Manuel Ugarte has been upheld as one of the chief beneficiaries of the managerial change having worked with the Portuguese coach for two years in Lisbon. At Sporting, Ugarte fostered a reputation as a decisive destroyer, topping the top-flight’s charts for combined tackles and interceptions (179) in 2022/23 before his move to Paris Saint-Germain.
If Ugarte is entrusted to be Amorim’s steel fist, it will be instructive to see who he chooses as the silk glove to partner him in midfield. Kobbie Mainoo’s return to training offers another alternative, and the technically gifted England international isn’t the only injured figure eyeing up some playing time.
A potential outing for Leny Yoro would be eye-catching at any time. After missing the first three months of the season with an ankle injury, the £52m summer recruit could finally make his competitive United debut this weekend.
Yoro lined up in a back-three alongside Jonny Evans and, encouragingly, Luke Shaw during training this week. The England left-back has not made a club appearance since February, toiling in the treatment room alongside fellow defender Tyrell Malacia. Both scarcely spotted left-footers could be involved in some capacity during Sunday’s trip to Suffolk, offering Amorim far greater balance across the pitch.
While all attention will understandably be pointed at the away dugout, spare a thought for the figure in the home end. Before overseeing consecutive promotions at the helm of Ipswich Town, Kieran McKenna was a key part of United’s coaching staff.
Promoted from the Under-18s team to assistant manager under Jose Mourinho, McKenna was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s number two for almost three years. Unlike Amorim, the Northern Irish coach has an intimate working knowledge of most 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 used to play for – McKenna could get one over another set of former employers this weekend.
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