“Incredible…” Ruben Amorim’s bizarre Manchester United change is biggest mistake so far

Ruben Amorim’s time at Manchester United so far has been filled with changes as he attempts to realise his best team in a difficult period.

Manchester United continue to struggle in games where they are not entering as clear underdogs.

After scoring a late hat-trick in the week to secure victory, Amad could not save Ruben Amorim’s side from defeat against Brighton on Sunday.

In both games, United really struggled to play out from the back and sustain any sort of pressure against the opponents.

Despite the poor results being evident since Amorim’s arrival, the performances have certainly taken a dip in recent weeks barring the bigger clashes against Liverpool and Arsenal.

Mazraoui must return to Amorim’s back three

United were showing some good signs in a lot of the early fixtures and Noussair Mazraoui looked like the most important player for United in their build-up play.

The Moroccan played as one of the three centre-backs in the first six games of Amorim’s tenure and won the club’s Player of the Month award for November. Fans thought that the head coach had found his perfect position.

Amorim was extremely pleased by the form of Mazraoui. “He’s an incredible player. He’s our future. He always looks fresh, even if we have to be careful with every game. He’s the kind of player we need.”

Yet, since those initial games, Mazraoui has been operating as one of the wingbacks and his form looks much worse. He is impacting games less and his replacements in the back three are not progressing the ball as well as he was.

It is clear that at least one of the players providing the width in Amorim’s system needs to be an attacking minded player. United have rarely scored while the two wingbacks have been natural defenders.

Amorim labelled Mazraoui as “incredible” when he was playing in the back three and it is time for him to realise his mistake and move back to that.

Where is Amad’s best position right now?

That also leads to a conversation about Amad, who has excelled both at wingback and in the no.10 position. He looked to have built a decent relationship with Mazraoui in the opening games under Amorim.

There are two sides to the argument about Amad’s position, one being that he is one of United’s best players in the final third and so must be there as much as possible.

That points towards him being in the front three, but there also comes soon issues with that in this current version of Amorim’s team.

If United are unable to pin back a team and consistently deliver passes into the frontline, Amad will naturally impact the game less than if he was playing as the wingback.

Amad played as a wingback against Southampton and had 92 touches of the ball, whereas against Brighton he only had 52 touches. On average, he is getting on the ball more when he is in the deeper position.

Read More: Brighton manager slams Manchester United star after key moment in Old Trafford defeat

The Ivorian is also useful in the build up for United and can still get opportunities to attack on the flank if United are not penned in their own half.

It might not be the long-term solution, but for right now, Amorim should look to reinstate that deeper right-hand side of Amad as the wingback and Mazraoui as the right centre-back. But, of course, there are problems aplenty elsewhere too.

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Wednesday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.