What Amorim should change – my Man Utd XI to face Bodo/Glimt

Never move into an old house in November. Peel the wallpaper off the walls and there it is, damp and rot everywhere. Ruben Amorim bought a vision of Manchester United in the sunshine. In the teeth of Storm Bert, Amorim discovered at Portman Road the extent of the damage, so deep only a complete rebuild will fix it.

Jamie Redknapp summed it up best. After a fast start on Sunday United became their true self, he said. They were passive, apprehensive and oh so slow, with an expected goals (xG) of 0.9, the lowest in the Premier League, and a total distance covered of 102kms, the second lowest recorded at the weekend.

In the immediacy of his post-match disappointment, Amorim reached two conclusions. He needs to spend less time talking and more time getting the players up to speed with his requirements. He is right on both counts, though not to blame for either circumstance.

The nature of the post, and his occupancy of it required him to tell his life story, to talk us through his plans for one of the world’s great football news generators. The nitty-gritty, the preparing for a football match with players he had never coached, was a secondary concern in the white heat of his unveiling.

Squad unavailability during international week further hindered the programme. The result was a patched-up, disjointed selection that compromised outcomes. Ipswich Town, under ex-United coach and summer candidate for Amorim’s job, Kieran McKenna, actually looked like the kind of team Amorim is hoping to develop, mobile and quick, full of targeted energy and drive.

United fell into the old patterns. The joining of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in a midfield fulcrum with a combined age of 64 left United stuck in Erik ten Hag gears. The three-at-the-back formation was unbalanced by the inclusion of right-footed Diogo Dalot in the left wing-back role, flanked by Amad Diallo on the right.

Though Amad was United’s best outfield player, he is wasted in the wing-back role. His energy is better spent driving at defenders, as he proved in creating United’s rapid opener.

Amorim felt the players suffered from a kind of in-game paralysis by analysis, overthinking rather than responding instinctively. This, he claimed, accounted for the disconnection between defence and midfield, the ball constantly being recycled across the backline by uncertain players unable to release the forward pass.

The Ipswich defence, in which former United prospect Axel Tuanzebe was outstanding, had no such trouble picking out the midfield runners, Sam Morsy, Wes Burns and man-of-the-match Omari Hutchinson, who carved through United’s static formation at will.

Amorim understands the importance of risk to progress. For the visit of Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League on Thursday he might start by sitting the old guys in favour of fit-again Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte in the central pivot. The latter needs game time if he is ever to demonstrate a return on the summer investment, and Mainoo has the imagination and gumption to get forward quickly.

Amorim must also end the practice of filling holes with the wrong pegs. Tyrell Malacia must start in the left wing-back role if fit, with Dalot switching to the right. This would free Amad to play further up the pitch in Amorim’s preferred front three.

My Man Utd team to face Bodo/Glimt

Amorim’s big move would be to rest captain Bruno Fernandes, who, as well as providing some of United’s best moments, is too often disconnected from the whole, which is arguably a consequence of trying to do too much. The bloke needs a rest. Mason Mount, who Amorim appears to like so much, is the natural replacement, and if he were ever to match his Chelsea best, would offer dynamism and goals in the No 10 role.

Alejandro Garnacho, another struggling for rhythm, seems stuck in that inconsistent phase often suffered by young players. The yard of freedom he enjoys in full bloom is seemingly unavailable to him in this moment, defenders always winning the key duels in the nick of time. Amad, by contrast, appears untouched by doubt, a marvellous asset in a striker.

Marcus Rashford remains a puzzle, a player still not at one with himself no matter how many times he aligns finger and temple as some kind of proof otherwise. He does, however, appear a better bet than Rasmus Hojlund or Joshua Zirkzee at the point of the attack. The former is lacking confidence, the latter lacking any idea about his role or even what game he is playing.

Perhaps Amorim will follow his own advice and roll the dice by mining the younger age groups to find some of the answers. Indeed, wasn’t this how Rashford got his chance as a 16-year-old under Louis van Gaal against FC Midtjylland a decade ago? The alternative is to persist with the husk of Ten Hag’s failed project.

Chido Obi-Martin, the Danish wunderkind United nicked from Arsenal when his contract expired in the summer, might just be the place to start. Though he has yet to complete a full 90 minutes, he has made an immediate impact with the Under-18s, scoring five goals in his first six outings. Plus Obi-Martin turns 17 on Friday, which has happy birthday in the form of a goal on debut, ala Rashford, written all over it.

United’s potential team for Amorim’s second game (4-2-3-1): Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Shaw; Dalot, Malacia, Ugarte, Mainoo; Amad, Rashford, Mount.