Failed philosophy has left United with a new problem

Ruben Amorim has belatedly shifted systems, suggesting the last 13 months have been a total waste

- Richard Jolly

“The manager,” said Ayden Heaven. “We play loads of formations with him. Whatever he does, we know it’s going to work.” It may be harsh to critique the words of a teenager unaccustomed to being interviewed immediately after high-profile Premier League matches, especially when he was presumably eager to avoid criticising the man who picks the team.

The counterargument, however, is that for 13 months of Ruben Amorim's reign, Manchester United played one formation and, more often than not, it did not work. The obituaries for his time at Old Trafford promised to say that he perished playing 3-4-3 and nothing but 3-4-3. And yet, fresh from beating Newcastle, Amorim used a word that did not seem to belong in his vocabulary: adapt.

He showed he can. United's last two games at Old Trafford have seen them play with a back four; first in a 4-4-2 system in the 4-4 draw with Bournemouth, then a 4-2-3-1 in the 1-0 win over Newcastle. Slightly inconveniently, given his devotion to an increasingly infamous tactic, the first brought arguably United's most vibrant attacking display of the campaign and the second perhaps their most defiant defensive effort.