Jamie Carragher spots concerning weakness in Ruben Amorim's Manchester United tactics
Manchester United drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town in Ruben Amorim's first game in charge and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has given his thoughts on the new manager's tactics
Jamie Carragher has identified a weakness in the way Manchester United played in their first game under new boss Ruben Amorim.
United switched to Amorim's favoured 3-4-3 formation in their 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town, which paid dividends when Marcus Rashford gave them an early lead. However, Omari Hutchinson scored a brilliant equaliser for Ipswich and Carragher has now identified some concerns about United's new system.
"I hear a lot of managers including Ruben Amorim saying systems don't matter too much," Carragher said on Monday Night Football. "I believe that they do, no matter how many times managers tell me they don't because, well why do you play a different system?
"Different systems give you different things in different areas. For me, the weaknesses are in these spaces here, either side of the two central midfield players. The reason why is, when you play a conventional back four, your wide man can tuck in and help.
"But because you play a back three, when they get the ball they naturally go wider and wing backs go wider and higher. It means there's a lot more space around these two central midfield players, especially if the two attacking 10s don't drop back.
"There were the same issues on the Ipswich side as well. The big problem is - is it a midfielder who should drop in to fill that space or should a centre-back step in with someone?
"We listened to Ruben Amorim after the game and he spoke a lot about Jonny Evans not making that jump into the space to pick up a man. Because they played the same system, it almost became a man-to-man game. Football has become that."
Speaking after the game, Amorim admitted United had found it "really hard" to adapt to his 3-4-3 formation but he remains confident they will improve. "It was really hard for them, they were thinking what to do, it was not fluid which is normal after just two training sessions but they tried hard," Amorim said.
"They have so much space to improve. But after a draw you never feel the good things. So I am really happy because they tried but they can do so much better. We don't have too many centre-backs so we have to adapt some players.
"I thought Noussair Mazraoui did very well. He is so smart and is so important for us. He can play anywhere and that kind of player is crucial for our future."
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