Omar Berrada was far from pleased when a certain report surrounding Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United emerged last month.
Manchester United are currently sixth in the Premier League after 19 matches, but their season has been marked by inconsistency in both results and performances.
They ended 2025 on a disappointing note with a 1–1 draw against Wolves, a result that handed the league’s bottom side just their third point of the campaign.
Fans were left confused when Ruben Amorim decided to set his team up in a back three for that game after having success with a formation change in the previous games.
United played as a back four against Bournemouth and Newcastle and the performances were improved. The switch back was unsuccessful.
Why Berrada was left ‘particularly unimpressed’ by United report
United’s adjustment to a back four would have been impossible for some to predict a couple of months ago as Amorim was so strong in his claims that he would not change.
But when it happened, there was less surprise among fans as reports had emerged explaining how Amorim was considering the switch.
Amorim joked about how the media knew about his formation change but his chief executive, Omar Berrada, was not happy about that information being leaked to the media.
According to MailSport, the ex-Manchester City chief was ‘particularly unimpressed’ when that story came out ahead of United’s busy winter fixtures.
The club have launched an internal inquiry at Old Trafford to find the mole. A similar situation occurred last term when United’s team news was being leaked 10 to 15 minutes early each week. That has since stopped happening.
Vivell unimpressed by formation
Amorim’s decision to test out a different formation looks like it also came due to pressure from those above him, who have been unconvinced by the system which he has implemented.
The same report as above has explained that United’s head of recruitment, Christopher Vivell, was shocked by United’s predictability in their 1-1 draw against Fulham earlier in the season.
Marco Silva’s post-match comments then dissected exactly how Fulham gained an advantage against Amorim’s three-at-the-back system.
“We knew how they defend and we know they like to squeeze from the back five,” Silva calmly explained that day. “And if you don’t give bodies for them to squeeze from the back five you can create superiority in the middle.
“We know they play with two in the middle, we tried to overload with our three plus Alex (Iwobi). It was as simple as that.”
Vivell read these comments and was so surprised that he posted them into a WhatsApp group chat with United’s senior leadership. He was said to have outlined the need to evolve to a less predictable system.
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