Ruben Amorim's Reds - Will the Portuguese bring back the glory days at Old Trafford

  We are now 18 games into the Amorim era at Old Trafford. 8 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses is hardly what is expected from the team by the United faithful. But there is a clear style of play and Amorim is going to continue with his style whatever the results - something Erik Ten Hag did not do. But the question remains. After 11 years of changing managers will the Portuguese be the one to bring back the glory days at the club?

Three Centre backs - Does it work in the Prem?

The three at the back formation with two overlapping wing backs is rarely used now in football with the recent "meta" being the inverted wing backs. All the top teams in the premier league and the world play with inverted wingbacks, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal to name a few. But Simone Inzaghi's Inter Milan use a 3-5-2 formation to great effect in Italy and Europe. The question is does the tactic work in the Premier league?

We have previously seen the likes to Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel use three at the back systems in the premier league and be successful with it. But Ruben Amorim is different. Instead of wingers he uses two attacking midfielders/inside forwards with wing backs overlapping. This is much different to what the other top managers do. Although he had incredible success in Portugal the Premier league is a different beast. Every team is tactically top and no game is easy as Amorim has found out in his early days. Time will tell if Amorim's tactics and way of football works but one thing is for sure he will have to make adjustments to succeed at Old Trafford.

The player issue at United

Amorim inherited a squad which was built to play in a back 4 system and has been asked to play in a back three. No wonder the team can't get results. Ruben Amorim needs players which will suit the new system to get results. Amad Diallo, Manuel Ugarte, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes are some of the only few who fit in the system. The likes of Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho are youngsters who can be moulded but what about Rashford and Casemiro? One thing is for sure there are going to many incomings and outgoings at United in the summer as Amorims tries to build a squad which will take United to the promised land.

What next for Ruben Amorim?

With Europa league round of 16 place secured and a February fixture list with no midweek games, the next goal for Ruben Amorim will be to get a good runs of results and stabilize the current squad. A top half finish in the league is needed and a run to the final of the Europa league or the Fa cup will be a respectable finish to a season which has gone down as the worst at the Theatre of Dreams since the late 80's. If Amorim is able to win a trophy or somehow get European football for United next season it will set him up well for maybe one of the most important pre-seasons in the great club's history. Time will tell if Ruben Amorim is the man for United or he goes down the same path that many great managers have since the great Sir Alex Ferguson resigned.