15 Sep 2025 11:27:40
Danny Pughnited has written an article entitled, If It's Broke At Manchester United - Fix It
15 Sep 2025 13:01:28
He said it himself. He won’t change his philosophy until he’s ready to. They may need to change the man.
See ya then!
15 Sep 2025 13:32:29
The clamour for Iraola or Glasner is odd. Regardless of whether they too favour this formation they'll still have the same square pegs won't they?
Until at least one, if not two, outstanding midfielders come in, plus 2 more effective wingbacks, we're not going to see what Amorim or this formation can really be.
{Ed001's Note - but the formation is making the lack of midfielders more of a problem as it puts stress on that area of the pitch by using just two, usually up against three. So it is not odd, it is odd that you think that Iraola, for example, would allow the midfield to be overrun in the same way Amorim continues to do.}
15 Sep 2025 13:47:13
Ed, if Iraola came in tomorrow, what would his strongest line-up / formation be do you think? What would he do differently?
{Ed001's Note - he plays a press, a very aggressive press. Something which would make a massive change on its own. Added to that, he would not play just 2 in the centre, I am sure he would still keep Bruno in there, but would have 2 other bodies in there to help him out. Most importantly of all, he would coach them to actually be able to play his system properly, something Amorim is clearly failing at. Iraola's teams are always well-organised and coached - you can see how heavily he has been influenced by Bielsa.}
15 Sep 2025 13:55:07
The odd thing, for me, is that the coach is refusing to learn from his mistakes. Two in midfield is a problem, exacerbated by having Bruno as one of the two.
But the bigger problem is that the wing backs are push up like traditional wingers, and the left and right centre backs push up alongside them. This creates a situation where it’s often just the central defender and one midfielder protecting half the pitch. If any of the other players misplaces a pass, the opposition have a clear path to goal.
After nearly a full season in the EPL, Amorim hasn’t addressed this despite it being exploited in every game. At some point you’d expect the penny to drop. For the coach to recognise that it isn’t working, and to try something different. But he hasn’t. If anything, Amorim is clinging more rigidly to his system.
That’s the issue for me. He will never succeed at the top level if he doesn’t adapt. Because no matter how many players he brings in, or how well his team drill them to play this system, its flaws are too obvious not to be exploited by a half decent side. United are playing with both hands tied behind their backs because everyone already knows how they are going to play, and how to win against them.
It’s a tipping point for me. Either Amorim is humble enough to learn and adapt, or the club will have to bring in a manager who is capable of doing this.
15 Sep 2025 14:00:50
Bruno had played in a 3 and has looked exactly the same defensively…
We have also played with a 3 and 2 holding and looked just as bad
We just haven’t got the midfield able to control games or play up against good teams
That’s is the area we are lacking in and when coming up against the teams in the top 6 that’s where we will lose games
As I have said previously 8-14 is about where we are at and if you finish 8th that’s progression on where we are at
Forget about Europa and champs football
We are miles away.
We finished 15th for a reason that isn’t going to suddenly change with 3 different forward signings.
This is the same team as last year other than sesko and mbuembo yesterday was the same team.
Why did anyone expect a different outcome.
{Ed001's Note - you have never played the way Iraola does, so there is no comparison with just saying it looks the same. Bruno would not need to play defensively, Iraola uses the defensive press as an aggressive attacking tactic, similar to how Klopp did initially.}
15 Sep 2025 14:15:53
Good post Danny.
15 Sep 2025 20:10:45
Our wingbacks are a major problem (not good enough) but our midfield isn’t as bad tactically as some make out. Plenty of teams get run through in midfield a lot of clubs use this as a tactic and it won’t be stopped every time. I think our biggest issue is temperament. Every team charges us in every position at the start of every game because our players can’t handle it. Starts with the captain who was diabolical again in a big match head dropping almost straight away what a dead weight for a struggling team to have to carry. He’s lost it.