Gary Neville said Ruben Amorim finally got his system “spot on” during Manchester United’s thrilling 4-4 draw with Bournemouth on Monday Night Football – but the head coach was again left frustrated as he watched his side “lose concentration” to give up their lead three times at Old Trafford.
Amorim appeared to have departed from aspects, at least, of his trademark 3-4-3 formation from kick-off against the Cherries and watched his side rack up more first-half shots than any Premier League side has managed in a single game this season.
There had been question marks before the game whether he would ditch the system altogether for the first time in his professional managerial career – and ahead of kick-off he had suggested he would need tactical flexibility when losing players to the Africa Cup Of Nations despite repeatedly defending the rigid set-up – but there appeared a new sense of fluidity not seen before by his United side to date.
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher was left reminded of the Manchester United sides of old under Sir Alex Ferguson, while Neville said early into the game: “The Manchester United defence is performing like a back four but there are times when it slips into a five.”
“But Ruben Amorim has certainly done something different here tonight. Maybe it’s Leny Yoro coming over towards Antoine Semenyo.”
Man Utd had an unorthodox average shape when Gary Neville first commented on Ruben Amorim’s gameplan
Later into the second half, with the hosts trailing 3-2, Amorim switched to a clear four-man defence with Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot as full-backs and Amad Diallo and Matheus Cunha either side of Bryan Mbeumo and substitute Benjamin Sesko in attack.
“We’ve been critical of Amorim for not having the right system and players on the pitch with the stubbornness for the system he plays, but in this period of the game, he’s got it spot on,” Neville said.
“The players you want on the pitch are there. Amad on the right, Mbeumo and Sesko up front, Cunha to the left, Mainoo and Fernandes as the midfield pair and then the back four.
“There’s no excuses now.”
But for all their good play, United’s continued inability to hold onto a lead saw them drop two more points through Eli Kroupi Jr’s 84th-minute leveller, meaning they have let 10 points slip from winning positions this season – enough to put them joint top of the Premier League.
Amorim had implored his players to show more consistency within games when speaking to Sky Sports ahead of kick-off but was left with a feeling of deja vu at full-time despite moving up to sixth in the table.
He said: “We need to focus on the performance today, which was different from the last two at home.
“That is also a point that we pay attention to. It’s completely different. The result is the same. At one point, it’s frustrating, but the performance is different.
“We lost concentration and they scored two goals. But we managed to get back to the game. We scored two goals again and then we have to finish the game.
“We need to think about not going again, but to be calm and to close the game. There were a lot of good things, but a lot of things to work on.
“You need to be more clinical because today against a very good team, we created so many chances to win the game.”
Carra: First half was Amorim’s best at Old Trafford
Jamie Carragher was similarly unimpressed by Manchester United’s defending but felt the quality of their attacking, particularly before half-time, was as good as he had seen from an Amorim side in the 59 games since he joined the club.
“It’s the best I’ve seen Manchester United play, certainly in the first half, under Amorim,” he said. “They were fantastic, especially in that first 25 or 30 minutes.”
“It was almost a throwback to Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, with Gary Neville playing. Fast attacking football, people being energetic, making runs forward, being positive, being on the front foot, winning the ball back early. There were lots of that.”
On the club’s ongoing lack of clean sheets – of which Amorim now has the seventh-worst ratio in Premier League history – Carragher added: “It’s a big problem for them. They had problems at both ends of the pitch last season.
Amorim has the seventh-worst clean sheet ratio of any Premier League manager who has managed at least 40 games.
“We highlighted pre-match that they’re improving in attack and we saw that again tonight. I thought the attacking players for Manchester United were fantastic.
“They had a lot of young defenders out there tonight that didn’t help. I’ve been there; more often than not when you make a mistake as a young defender, it ends up in the back of your goal, and that was the mistake tonight.
“Even though it ended up at 4-4 and Bournemouth should have won it at the end, Manchester United were by far the better team. That was the first time in a long time, and certainly under Amorim, that I felt like I was watching how Manchester United should be.
“Just wave after wave of attacks, counter-attacks, and almost the opposition feel like they’re getting sucked back into that box in front of the Stretford End. You can’t get out.”