Wayne Rooney believes that Ruben Amorim has made a “strange” mistake at Manchester United that no one has really noticed.
Manchester United have been extremely poor this season and things didn’t change when Ruben Amorim took charge last November.
The Portuguese boss has been trying to implement a new 3-4-3 system at Old Trafford which has caused mass debate in the media.
United were playing in a 4-2-3-1 before the 40-year-old’s arrival and many players have seemed to have problems moving to the new system.
There are claims that the formation does not suit these players and Wayne Rooney has identified another problem with Amorim’s approach.
Rooney believes Amorim has made “strange” mistake at United
United’s all-time top goalscorer, Rooney, finds it “strange” that Amorim has not influenced the Academy teams at Carrington to play the same formation as him.
The Under-21s and Under-18s both usually operate with 4-2-3-1 systems. With the likes of Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson and Chido Obi emerging from these teams, Rooney has questioned why they are not playing in the same system as the first-team.
“You’d think so,” Rooney replied when asked on BBC Match of the Day 2 whether the players should be organised in Amorim’s system after half a season in charge.
“But I think the second team, they’re playing a back four, which I find strange.
“A lot of them players who have come into the first-team now, they’re getting their game-time in the Under-21s and they’re playing different systems. For me, that’s a bit confusing.
“I think getting to the Europa League final is papering over a lot of cracks, there’s big problems at Manchester United and that need solving quickly.”
United formation talk is tiring
The amount of analysis which goes into speaking about why Manchester United are bad is quite baffling.
Amorim joined the club mid-season and has probably had more important things to worry about than ensuring the same system is played throughout the entire club.
Even if he doesn’t change that in the long-term, it certainly does not seem like something worth talking about. It certainly wouldn’t be a topic of conversation if the different formations were 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2.
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There are plenty of genuine issues at Old Trafford but it all seems to come back to the formation, which is beginning to get tiring. You would have thought these players were outstanding when playing a back four.
Unfortunately for Amorim, these critiques will only get louder unless he is able to build a winning team, and next season is going to be so important for him.
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