Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United tactical adjustments during Premier League defeat to Wolves left Gary Neville questioning the Portuguese’s thinking
Gary Neville has analyzed Ruben Amorim’s tactics and insisted the manager got it all wrong after Manchester United’s disastrous Premier League defeat at home to Wolves. Amorim changed tactics after the win against Newcastle and was made to pay the price as the club, bottom of the league, were held to just one point.
The United manager made his first tactical change in his 13 months in charge in Boxing Day’s win against Newcastle. Amorim stuck to a 3-4-3 system at United, before switching to a 4-2-3-1 in the win against Newcastle. With Brian Mbeumo and Amad out of action at AFCON and Bruno Fernandes out injured, the United manager made some surprising adjustments to his squad.
Patrick Dorg moved to the right wing and scored the winning goal, while Luke Shaw, who had become a regular at left centre-back, returned to left-back. However, in the game against Wolves, Amorim was forced to make changes to his starting line-up as Mason Mount was injured and Joshua Zirkzee started in his place.
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Within 25 minutes United struggled to control the match and were unable to cause any damage to Wolves, who had only scored two points all season. Neville told Sky Sports he questioned the positions of four players and was confused by United’s tactics. “This is also not right,” he said.
“So I think I’ve watched enough United games in the last five or six weeks. I’ve watched six of the last seven games to know what’s right and what’s not right and I was really surprised.”
“On the right side, Zirksee is almost a right-back, Dalot is a right wing-back, Aiden Haven is a right-centre back and Dorg has to run back a left-back who is not playing well.
“It wasn’t as good as the last few games where they were playing in different positions, but it’s safe to say that. I think that’s what the fans are thinking inside this stadium. They’re in the exact same spot as us.
“Thanks to the adjustments in the last couple of games, his performance has been much better, but tonight he went back to a 3-4-3, but the problem is he has players in his system.”
“Zirksee in this right channel, obviously he’s going to Central now. Dalot here, always having to go back, that’s not right. Tonight they play a struggling team, so there’s a chance they can win and get away with it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good system to watch, because it’s not.”
Zirkzee scored his second goal of the season with a deflected shot, marking his return to the starting lineup. However, Wolves leveled the score just before half-time with Ladislav Kreiz scoring from a corner kick, prompting boos from the home fans at half-time.
Despite dominating the ball and causing Wolves problems, United were unable to find a chance and were booed at full-time. This means they have dropped points to Everton, Bournemouth, West Ham and Wolves since the end of November.
Amorim was accused of playing mind games by Mark Chapman after he remained mum about his formation plan in a pre-match interview before lining up in the back three in the warm-up.
“I think Ruben Amorim is taking the microphone away from us a little bit because Manchester United have warmed up with a back three with Haven on the right, Martinez in the middle and Luke Shaw on the left. Check Sky Sports to see if it’s a back three or a back four,” joked Chapman.
