Manchester United wants to find a silver lining in their sad season by winning the FA Cup, but will have to beat Fulham in the fifth round on Sunday to take a step closer to that goal.
The Red Devils beat Ipswich 3-2 earlier this week, even though they are up to ten men, but are still flattering to mislead in many ways.
A young, talented Portuguese manager could prove a huge thorn in the side of Man Utd when Marco Silva visits Fulham Old Trafford.
The cottagers went under the radar for how well a season they have, sitting in the upper half of the table.
In the meantime, the various shortcomings of Man Utd are abundantly documented with the system of Ruben Amorim still not the best in this team.
So how can the ex-sport boss look to tackle the next match against Fulham? Our latest episode of tactics that have been exposed, in collaboration with Betfair, should have all the answers for you.
Why doesn't 3-4-3 work?
Amorim's 3-4-3 system performed wonders at Sporting Lisbon and won two Portuguese titles and many other awards.
It still has to translate to England, but why is this the case?
Starting with a simple answer, many of these players have never played the system before.
Manuel Ugarte, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt are to a lesser extent the only players who are familiar with the system, and the lack of specialists in different positions, including Central Medium-backs and wingbacks are a huge problem.
So why is Amorim on playing 3-4-3? Well, the idea is fairly simple: because the wingbacks offer overloads in all positions on the field.
When defending you have a back five; When you are in possession, you have a four -member midfield instead of two; And when attacking you have a front five.
Before he signed Patrick Dorgu, United was missing a specialized wing-back.
Amad Diallo was tried there before he was moved forward, Alejandro Garnacho did not work there, while Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui are not fast enough to excel.
At Sporting the system worked so well because a lot of confidence was given to players.
We must note that this was often against parties who would consider many as inferior opposition, which is not a luxury that is easily expanded to the Premier League.
Ultimately, as Amorim has warned, it will take time.
Another reason why this system fails is that players go out of position, so that they remain overloaded instead of the opposition.
For example, if a long ball in the right channel is played for Rasmus Hojlund to run – who encourages a wingback, one of the dozens and a midfielder to step on – when possession is admitted to the opposition, they will eventually be overloaded and exposed to the other side of the field.
This happened in five or six games against Ipswich, where Ugarte went to the right to get the ball, but the wing-back was wide, so he didn't get the ball.
Fulham will undoubtedly look to block the passing lane, so that they stay in the minority in trying to find passing solutions.
This is all from the simple fact that United Players are not used correctly when building up.
Is Bruno Fernandes overestimated?
Our latest episode of tactics that have been exposed, in collaboration with Betfair, has given us the opportunity to answer some of your questions immediately.
And one of the most importantly debated stars in the Premier League is Bruno Fernandes, as can be seen with Roy Keane's explosive argument with Ian Wright earlier this week.
The RAW numbers tell a story about Fernandes such as the Star man of the Man Utd team, with six goals and seven assists in the Premier League and 23 target contributions in 39 games in all matches this season.
As always the case in football, you have to look a bit deeper to find the real answer, which can often have more than one truth.
In a sense, the statistics are completely right and you cannot accuse his efforts.
But in his duty as a club captain, Fernandes actually takes on too much responsibility and he disrupts the system of Amorim that is actually quite rigid with defined roles for a number of players.
Fernandes recently visited the left -sided midfielder in the central pivot after he returned to one of the two attacking midfield rolls. But that caused his own new problem.
In the system, the Central Center-Back, two central midfielders and striker must generally remain in a fixed position.
But Fernandes does something that I will call “Steven Gerrard Syndrome”, where he does everything and puts the team out of balance.
Although it means that he goes a lot on the ball and has a heat card throughout the field, Fernandes' efforts creates an overload that benefits the opposition.
He would often go to the back against Ipswich, creating a four, which in combination with Ugarte -width, it can have the opposition to have many extra figures in attacking areas.
So how do you solve this problem? As we said earlier, it comes down to trust.
Most teams defend in a 4-4-2 form, and if Fernandes remains disciplined by staying in his area, the passing lanes can open and create the overloads where the Amorim system is designed to create.
Of course there is the argument that Fernandes only does too much because the people around him do not pull their weight.
Again, this can be true, with many united players who play and have courage in a cowardly way.
Fernandes has to teach his teammates more to trust more by giving them more responsibility, but at the same time they have to set up their game to reach the level of the 30-year-old.
Rasmus Hojlund is not the answer, right?
Our third comment about this edition of tactics that, in collaboration with Betfair, has uncovered the frontman Hojlund of United as not to the required standard.
The answer, as with Fernandes, is deeper than the surface level -numbers show us.
His profile, a large, fast player who is handful of defenders, would indicate a player who must be perfect for the system. But goals just don't come for the 22-year-old.
The last Premier League goal from Hojlund came on December 7, 13 league games ago.
Yet the DANE has found an more and more isolated figure by being forced to often fight a box of four players around him – usually two defenders and two defenders.
Even people like Erling Haaland would struggle against those expectations.
See how he shows that he makes many runs in the canal and walks along the line of the defense, but he just doesn't get the ball in areas where he can be dangerous.
The spell of Joshua Zirkzee as a NO10 and the lack of real wingbacks has hurt Hojlund.
You have to feel sorry for him, and it is no surprise that he looks like a broken man.
His most important challenge now is to shake off his current form and to release from a lack of trust and find a way to be more effective in his runs by retaining energy.
Man Utd needs another striker to help Hojlund, whether that new bait plays next to Hojlund or just gives him the chance to be a bit out of the first team by taking part of the pressure and workload from him.
In their 2-1 midweek victory against Wolves, Fulham ironically scored two goals that are typical of the Amorim system; Both came from their number nine, Rodrigo Muniz.
Muniz saw the first goal fighting two defenders to impose it on one of the attacking midfielders before the ball was played for attacking the wing-back Ryan Sessegnon who scored.
In the second half, the ball was played in a broad position with the NO10 that fell the space in space before the NO9 was played on goal with a diagonal run. Another perfect Amorim goal.
It goes without saying that Fulham could match the 3-4-3 of Man Utd this weekend, as if they were matching Wolves, and showing how it is done.
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