Three winners and three losers as Ruben Amorim immediately makes his mark on Man Utd ahead of first game vs Ipswich

RUBEN AMORIM has caused plenty of excitement before even taking charge of his first game as Manchester United manager.

The two-time league winner with Sporting Lisbon saw his side beat Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League before leaving to take over at Old Trafford at the start of the international break.

The 39-year-old has many similarities with ex-Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho, especially in his behaviour.

It's something that SunSport revealed has left stars “blown away” even before taking his first training session at Carrington with stars not on international duty.

However, to add to the excitement before the Portuguese tactician makes his bow against Ipswich on Sunday, the club have released a video of him training, which has gone viral on social media.

But we don't really need a video to know what players will benefit from and who could be left out in the cold.

Throughout his career so far at Casa Pia, Braga and Sporting, Amorim has favored a 3-4-3 shape with two so-called number 10s instead of wingers.

Below we look at which three players are likely to benefit from the new tactical approach and which three players will find it difficult to find playing time under Amorim.

Winner: Bruno Fernandes

Bruno Fernandes joined Man Utd from Sporting in January 2020, just months before Amorim arrived in Lisbon, and has been a talismanic figure at Old Trafford ever since.

The 30-year-old has made no secret of the fact that he still considers himself a fan of the Portuguese club.

This means that of the entire United squad, he is probably the one who best understands what Amorim stands for from a tactical point of view.

When Amorim was first announced as the new coach at United, there was an immediate feeling that Fernandes would be one of the players most threatened from a tactical perspective.

After all, he doesn't fit as one of the two deeper midfielders and there was initial understanding that Amorim favored wingers as the main support for the main striker.

Instead, as Amorim prefers to use two narrow tens behind the striker, who have the freedom to drift and move, he suddenly feels like the perfect role for Fernandes to fill at United.

A free role in the final third of the pitch is where Fernandes has flourished since arriving in England, with his idiosyncratic attacking approach too unpredictable for defenders to read.

We fully expect Fernandes to remain one of United's key attacking players going forward.

Winner: Manuel Ugarte

If Fernandes is likely to benefit from an understanding of Amorim's game mode, then Manuel Ugarte is likely to have an even greater advantage, having previously played for Amorim in Lisbon.

He made the first move to Paris Saint-Germain after his time in Portugal and then moved to United this summer after struggling to adapt to life in Ligue 1 – although he still had the most tackles per 90 of anyone in the competition with at least 900 minutes. played.

Amorim has a clear preference for playing a two-man double pivot in midfield, with two players who are combative but comfortable in many areas.

This is essentially the perfect role for Ugarte, who is not the most advanced passer or most attacking midfielder.

Instead, he is at his best when he breaks up play and covers space before playing it simply when he has possession of the ball.

Ugarte has shown more of what he can do when paired with Casemiro in a two-man midfield role under Ruud van Nistelrooy, and more of the same can be expected if he steps up as he is likely to become the key midfielder for United under Amorim.

Winner: Marcus Rashford

While the more central positions that the two most advanced midfielders will occupy under Amorim will benefit the likes of Fernandes, it is less clear how this will affect Alejandro Garnacho, Amad Diallo, Antony and Marcus Rashford.

The aforementioned training video appeared to show Rashford leading the attack as a central striker during a training exercise.

With neither Rasmus Hojlund nor Joshua Zirkzee having really impressed so far this season, positioning Rashford as a true number 9 could be a genius move.

Although Rashford is not most comfortable playing with his back to goal and looking to connect the play and involve others, he is dangerous with his movements when looking to make runs to chase the space behind him traps.

This is the role we are likely to see for Rashford under Amorim.

At Sporting we saw Viktor Gyokeres score an incredible number of goals under Amorim, playing as a striker who wants to pull on the shoulder of the last defender and run further to attack the space.

Rashford is likely to have a similar profile to the main striker, allowing him to fully utilize his potential and become a key attacking player for United.

If Rashford is reinvented as a central striker with two close 10s to support him, he can regain his form in front of goal.

Loser: Joshua Zirkzee

This may come as a surprise considering Zirkzee only moved to United from Bologna this summer.

Zirkzee is a forward who is much more comfortable dropping into deeper positions to support midfield and link play in deeper areas.

In this respect he is almost the exact opposite of Rashford or Hojlund, who are more aggressive attacking players.

Zirkzee has struggled to fully establish himself as an attacking player for United so far this season, with just one goal to his name on his debut against Fulham.

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the possibility of Zirkzee returning to Serie A on loan.

For the attacking shape and system under Amorim to fully work, he needs a more aggressive striker who plays on the shoulder of the last defender and threatens to attack the space behind the defensive line with space.

With Rashford and Hojlund as central attackers, it is likely that Zirkzee will struggle to get playing time in that position under Amorim.

Although Amorim is known for being flexible with the players he has at his disposal, and may see fit to convert Zirkzee into one of his two number 10s in a bid to get the best out of him.

Loser: Christian Eriksen

For this choice we could have chosen Christian Eriksen or Casemiro.

Both are midfielders closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, and neither, at least at this stage of their careers, is known for their mobility in central areas.

The tactical system used by Amorim often leaves the two central midfielders outnumbered centrally.

Consequently, they are expected to take up a large amount of space in both the defensive and attacking phases of the game to compensate for this.

This means that players like Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo – who showed strong defensive stats this season before his injury – will be better suited to the playing style and system than Eriksen.

The Dane is still a good passer who can progress the game, break lines and add value in the final third when breaking down teams playing in a deeper block.

The problem is that the two more advanced midfielders will come in and play in the areas that Erkisen would typically want to occupy as he progressed.

Therefore, Eriksen will likely struggle to get into the team regularly, with Casemiro likely to be the first backup to Mainoo and Ugarte as the two midfielders.

Loser: Alejandro Garnacho

With the change in the system and game model under Amorim, we will see a change in the expectations and profiles of the players who will flourish under the Portuguese coach.

This could mean that a high-profile player at United will struggle to get regular game time and fill a specific role for the rest of the season.

That player is Alejandro Garnacho.

The 20-year-old winger has three goals and one assist in the league this season.

But he is much better suited to a more traditional winger role, where he is free to play in space and can stretch the opposition defense with his pace.

Under Amorim, players like Bruno Fernandes, as we have already discussed, fit the profile of advanced and attacking midfielders.

But Garnacho is more of an individual player than someone who seeks connection and wants to combine with teammates.

Although Garnacho will likely be tried in this role, we believe he is unlikely to be effective as he wants to play on the shoulder of defenders to make runs to attack space, and this is the role of the striker among Amorim. .

There is an argument that Garnacho could also be deployed as a wing-back, but we don't believe he would be strong here given his lack of defensive instincts.

We believe that under Amorim it is likely that Garnacho will be played initially, but given his specific profile we believe he is likely to be left out of the starting XI in the short to medium term.

Conclusion

At this stage in their United careers, it is likely that Amorim and his coaching staff will be carefully assessing the squad to decide which players suit what they want to do.

It will be interesting to see if Amorim can pull off surprises for stars that could become an important part of its system.