Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has admitted he is “willing” to alter his tactical system, hitting back at claims that he is stubbornly wedded to the 3-4-2-1 formation that has been consistently seen throughout his first year at Old Trafford.
Amorim enjoyed much success with the setup at former club Sporting CP, where there was more fluidity between attacking roles, but it has been a major departure from the 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 systems—and associated variants—that United have operated over the last 30 years.
A perceived reluctance to deviate too much from the familiar has been a regular criticism of Amorim and was again thrown at the coach in the wake of Monday night’s Premier League defeat to Everton—a first at Old Trafford against the Toffees in 12 years.
But Amorim insists he isn’t as tactically rigid as has been made out.
When DAZN Portugal asked the United boss if has any plans to bring back the more mobile rotation of forwards seen in Sporting’s version of the 3-4-2-1, he said it has already been happening.
“We did it against Liverpool, it wasn’t with Bryan Mbeumo, it was with [Matheus] Cunha,” he stressed. “And it’s an option that we have, and nowadays, everyone, not only in the English league but in the Portuguese league, in all leagues, there's a great variation in how things are structured.
“We might say it’s a 4-4-2, but five minutes later it’s a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3. Therefore, I’m willing to do anything, contrary to what many people think that I’m too fixated on one thing.
“I simply start with a basic foundation, but obviously, we can use it in the future. And we’ve already thought about that with Bryan [playing centrally] because he’s very strong in transitions.
“I do think [wide] the best position for him because he likes to be hidden, he doesn’t like people watching him. He can attack, be more dangerous on one of the flanks, either right or left, rather than as a striker, but it’s a good option, therefore I’ll be able to use it in the future as I did several times at Sporting.”
That last point is a reference to the way that top scorer Viktor Gyökeres was not tied to a fixed position in Lisbon, which made Sporting unpredictable and helped bring the Swede a lot of goals.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ruben Amorim Responds to Controversial Man Utd Formation Backlash.
