Ruben Amorim has been Manchester United manager for just over a year, but there hasn’t been much for Red Devils fans to shout about.
The Portuguese manager was unable to bring European football to them and his results during his 12-month spell at Old Trafford were frankly poor.
The former Sporting CP manager has managed 55 games for the Red Devils so far, with 22 wins, 22 losses and 11 draws.
His results in the Premier League have been even worse, with United winning just 12 times and losing 18 times in the top flight under him.
One of the issues Amoam struggles with is profiling players in his infamous 3-4-2-1 system. Question marks remain over the suitability of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes as pivots.
The battle between Fernandes and Casemiro continues
In modern soccer, having an athletic midfielder is essential to success. Despite being one of the best No. 10s in the Premier League, Casemiro, now 34 and still a great ball-winner, is struggling next to Fernandes, who has been forced into a deeper role by Amorim.
That particular combination has been Amorim’s go-to this season, but there’s nothing to suggest it’s optimizing them. In fact, some argue that Fernandes is so deep that it is having a negative effect on the team.
United great Paul Scholes said at the start of the season that he had “no doubt” that United’s captain should play as a number 10.
He is excellent at getting close to goal, and this goal from his recent hat-trick for Portugal is a great example of how effective he is in the final third.
As for Casemiro, the Brazilian is certainly lacking in physicality, despite being an excellent ball-winner and averaging 3.62 tackles and interceptions per game this term.
Back in 2023, Jamie Carragher said he had “lost a leg”. He definitely needs someone more physically dominant to play next to him.
But Fernandes and Casemiro are not the only players being misprofiled by Amorim.
Two players struggling under Amorim
For Amoirm’s system to be successful, they will certainly need to sign certain players. In fact, misprofiling Fernandez as a deep playmaker is just an example of fitting a square peg into a round hole.
A similar area is at wing-back. They are essentially wingers and are often United’s best-placed players in one-on-one situations with opposing full-backs. Amad is a conventional player, but Patrick Dorg and Nousser Mazraoui are not.
X’s account, the Premier League Panel, said their effort in Monday’s 1-0 home defeat to Everton was “utter rubbish”. Granted, it wasn’t their best night in the office, but the role they’re asked to play as wingers hasn’t played to their strengths.
The fact that they are full-backs by trade certainly shows that. Dorg played high and wide on the left side under Amorim and recorded just one assist. Mazraoui has also played at centre-back, but only managed that one game.
Looking at their creative stats clearly highlights the fact that they are being incorrectly profiled.
For example, looking at the Premier League last season and the start of the 2025/26 season, Dorg averaged 0.3 crosses per game, while Mazraoui averaged 0.2.
Dorgu & Mazrawi – Attack Stats | ||
|---|---|---|
State (per 90) | i go to sleep | Mazraoui |
key pass | 1.24 | 0.58 |
Expected number of assists | 0.12xA | 0.06xA |
cross | 0.3 | 0.2 |
Take-up completed | 0.36 | 0.87 |
Action to set goals | 0.18 | 0.06 |
Statistics from FBref | ||
United lack a wide attacking threat at the moment. It’s worth noting that he’s a great player when used correctly, but having two full-backs play wing-backs doesn’t help.
That’s certainly something Amorim will need to address in the coming weeks.
His time at United has been memorable so far, but there is still time to get his season back on track. It will be interesting to see if he keeps Dorg and Mazraoui wide or switches to more attacking players.
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