Manchester United tactics: Why Ruben Amorim’s gameplan isn’t working

What we have established is Amorim plays a positional style of football that looks to better opponents through overloads rather than individuals beating their man.

The way they look to do this is through specific passing routines.

United build with three at the back. These defenders look to play a straight pass into the feet of attackers, who look to lay it off to a team-mate – often a central midfielder – who then looks for a through ball over the top.

In the coaching world, this is sometimes referred to as an ‘up-back-through’, referencing the pass up the pitch, the pass backwards, then the through ball.

The reason for the direct pass up to the attacker is to entice the opposition centre-back to follow the attacker, which could open up space for a United player to run into. The player in behind could then play a cross for team-mates arriving in the box.

United captain Bruno Fernandes has been criticised for playing long passes rather than taking more touches, but it is likely this is under instruction, with Amorim wanting to free either the attacker or wing-back running in behind.

With these schemes based on playing with fewer touches, players who have a tendency to take more – or play centrally – such as Mainoo, are less natural fits.