Jamie Carragher spots tactical flaws in Ruben Amorim’s first game

Manchester United drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town in Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher analysed the new head coach’s tactics for Monday Night Football.

It’s easy to point out the weaknesses shown by a team after just a few days of training under their belt. Amorim had limited options due to that and we should see the team change over the coming weeks.

For Sunday’s game, United switched to Amorim’s favoured 3-4-3 formation as they drew 1-1 with the relegation-strugglers, despite an early goal from Marcus Rashford.

Omari Hutchinson equalised for Ipswich and Carragher was quick to point out some concerns about United’s new system.

Jamie Carragher breakdown Ruben Amorim tactics

“I hear a lot of managers including Ruben Amorim saying systems don’t matter too much,” Carragher said on Monday Night Football, as cited by The Mirror. “I believe that they do, no matter how many times managers tell me they don’t because, well why do you play a different system?

“Different systems give you different things in different areas. For me, the weaknesses are in these spaces here, either side of the two central midfield players. The reason why is, when you play a conventional back four, your wide man can tuck in and help.

“But because you play a back three, when they get the ball they naturally go wider and wing backs go wider and higher. It means there’s a lot more space around these two central midfield players, especially if the two attacking 10s don’t drop back.

“There were the same issues on the Ipswich side as well. The big problem is – is it a midfielder who should drop in to fill that space or should a centre-back step in with someone?

“We listened to Ruben Amorim after the game and he spoke a lot about Jonny Evans not making that jump into the space to pick up a man. Because they played the same system, it almost became a man-to-man game. Football has become that.”

Jamie Carragher analyses Manchester United’s new formation under Ruben Amorim 🔍 pic.twitter.com/DYFPD9MmxI

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Carragher rarely provides analysis like this on United, but it is understood that he studied Amorim after Liverpool were linked with the former Sporting CP boss.

Amorim will soon hope to have better players available and fully fit to master his preferred system.