How Man United will play underneath Ruben Amorim – it is excellent news for Marcus Rashford, unhealthy for Harry Maguire and spells the tip for one of many membership’s nice traditions

There was a certain symmetry about the fact that Ruben Amorim‘s last match as Sporting coach before jumping on a private jet to Manchester on Monday brought victory at the home of his old club Braga.

Speaking late on Sunday evening at the Estadio Municipal de Braga, a venue famous for being built into the side of a quarry, Amorim gave every indication that his football philosophy is also set in stone as he prepares for life as Manchester United‘s new head coach.

‘I know how I am going to play in the beginning, because you have to start with a structure that you know,’ he told reporters with an easy smile that showed he is not daunted by the prospect of succeeding Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford.

‘Then you will adapt with the players that you have. Some injuries or no injuries. What kind of players have the abilities to defend, attack, I will discover that in the next few weeks.

‘We don’t have a lot of time to train, so I have to show something that I know very well.’

So there we have it, the message is quite clear: United’s players will have to adapt to Amorim from the get-go, not the other way around.

It suggests that they will line up in his preferred 3-4-3 formation at Ipswich a week on Sunday. If not at Portman Road, then very soon.

Given that the 39-year-old can’t undertake any coaching until he has a work permit – hopefully in the next couple of days – and won’t meet the majority of the players until they return from international duty next week, it’s a bold way to embark on such a big job.

But that’s Amorim, a young man with an infectious confidence who convinces others to follow his lead. It brought Sporting two Primeira Liga titles after a 19-year drought, and five trophies in total.

United are getting a coach who knows exactly what he wants from his players. After the listlessness of the Ten Hag era, they believe Amorim is the ideal antidote.

But what will it mean for a squad that contains £600million of signings made under Ten Hag, including more than its fair share of Dutchmen and players he knew from Ajax?

One of them is keeper Andre Onana, and it’s highly unlikely Amorim will make any radical changes in goal. One of the reasons Ten Hag brought the Cameroonian to United was an ability to play out from the back, and there will be a similar requirement under Amorim.

Onana has proved himself a very capable shot-stopper after eradicating the errors that blighted his early career at United. The fact that Altay Bayindir has only made three appearances since Onana’s arrival, and Tom Heaton none, tells its own story.

Amorim’s reliance on a back three has prompted plenty of debate about which of the central defenders in United’s squad will best fit the new system.

Lisandro Martinez, a ball-playing centre back who is equally comfortable in midfield, would appear to be a natural choice.

Amorim has admitted that he cannot be as defensive at United as he was at Sporting, but the aggressive Martinez will help to give him the bite he needs.

The other two slots are less clear-cut. Leny Yoro would be another good fit, but United’s £59m summer signing has not played since fracturing a metatarsal in July and is still some weeks away from a return.

Harry Maguire is also out of action and there are concerns that he is too similar in build and style to Matthijs de Ligt, currently United’s other first-choice centre-back alongside Martinez.

Then there’s Victor Lindelof and veteran Jonny Evans, whose ability to play out from the back was so valued by Ten Hag that the manager argued with Raphael Varane over picking the Northern Irishman.

Left back Luke Shaw, whose return to training last week almost nine months after his last game for United might not have been entirely unconnected with his difficult relationship with Ten Hag, has also played well in a back-three before.

Amorim likes to play out from the back as a means of dominating possession, but he should heed the lesson of Ten Hag’s first away game in August 2022 when the Dutchman asked his team to do the same at Brentford and United were 4-0 down at half-time.

The players are more comfortable with that style now, but it highlights the risk of experimenting in the Premier League. Ipswich will certainly be licking their lips after a first win of the season at Tottenham on Sunday.

A 3-4-3 formation allows Amorim’s teams to be fluid in transition, quickly turning defence into attack as the wing-backs push further up the pitch. Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui are the obvious choices in the wide areas, although both are natural right-footers and Shaw would provide more balance on the left.

Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte have prospered in a midfield tandem under interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy and they are likely to continue in the two central positions – at least until Kobbie Mainoo is fit again – although Christian Eriksen has been in good form as well.

Ugarte enjoyed the best spell of his career under Amorim in Lisbon and suits the more defensive role. That would free up Casemiro to get forward and try to overload the attack, but the 32-year-old Brazilian could eventually come under threat from Mainoo in a system that requires high energy and pressing.

‘Everyone speaks so well of him,’ said Casemiro after Sunday’s win over Leicester. ‘We cannot ignore how he has changed Sporting. He has already proved that he is a coach that has won a lot.’

United’s attacking traditions have been built on wingers, but that is one area where the club will have to compromise under the new boss. Although two of the front three can drift wide, they will also be expected to tuck in and support the striker like a pair of No 10s.

It would mean Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and a revitalised Amad Diallo having to adapt more than most. Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount are a more natural fit and United captain Bruno Fernandes, resurgent under Van Nistelrooy after the worst spell of his Old Trafford career earlier this season, would appear to be a shoo-in for one of those positions.

Fernandes left Sporting for United in January 2020 just weeks before Amorim took over, so he knows what a transformative effect the coach had in lifting the club from its lowest point in 2018 when fans attacked the players at the training ground.

‘He has completely changed the club, the structure, the dynamics, and put the club back where it deserves to be,’ said Fernandes ahead of Amorim’s arrival.

‘I hope he can do the same here, and that together we can follow the same path he did at Sporting.’

Rashford also offers an alternative to Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee at centre forward. Amorim likes his striker to play on the shoulder of defenders, as Viktor Gyokeres did to such good effect when he scored a hat-trick in Sporting’s 4-1 Champions League win over Manchester City last week and Amorim enhanced his reputation as a brilliant strategist against Pep Guardiola.

Ultimately, there won’t be a future for some of these United players in the new coach’s long-term plans. Gyokeres has already been linked with a move to Old Trafford, and Amorim has refused to rule out signing Pedro Goncalves – the man who replaced Fernandes at Sporting – in the summer.

‘I know it will be difficult to reproduce what I have here anywhere else,’ he said in his last press conference in Braga.

‘I’m not naive, I know it’s going to be very different, very difficult. But I feel ready for the new challenge.’