Three ways Man Utd can outwit struggling Man City in the derby and how Ruben Amorim can build on his encouraging start

THE LAST TIME Ruben Amorim and Pep Guardiola faced off in early November, things were very different.

Amorim was managing his final home game in charge of his league-winning Sporting Lisbon side, while it seemed like nothing but a bump in the road for Guardiola’s usually imperious Manchester City.

However, just over five weeks on from that 4-1 win for Amorim sees both facing monumentally different circumstances going into Sunday’s Manchester derby.

Amorim has arrived at Manchester United trying to implement his tactical ideas into the dramatically underperforming squad he has inherited, with mixed results in his early tenure.

Meanwhile, Guardiola is going through the worst spell of his managerial career by far, with City having won just one game in 10.

The Red Devils are entering another transition period that will make or break many futures of the current squad.

On the other hand, the Cityzens now understand they will require a herculean squad rebuild to get back to competing with the best.

Despite their own struggles, there has arguably never been a better time for Man Utd to face their “noisy neighbours” and below we will take a look at three ways Amorim can get the better of Guardiola.

Importance of the 10’s

When people talk about the preferred tactical shape of Amorim it is often described as a 3-4-3, although that is not quite true.

The two wide attacking midfielders play inside more than outside, although they do have the freedom to do both, and they act more as traditional number 10’s behind the main striker.

This means that Amorim likes his team to play with a box midfield in the attacking phase with the two deeper central midfielders alongside two more advanced midfielders.

This positioning allows his team to create overloads against the opposition defence as they play through the thirds.

We saw this in effect in the match between Sporting City where Pedro Goncalves and Francesco Trincao looked very comfortable with their more flexible positioning in and around the final third.

They both consistently moved in and out of pockets of space and gave their team options to play progressively through the thirds and into the City half of the pitch.

There is no doubt that the loss of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri has left City vulnerable in midfield. And this creates an opportunity United could look to take advantage of in this weekend’s match.

So far at United we have seen Amorim use various players in these attacking midfield positions.

But it seems Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho are likely to start in these roles come kick-off.

Fernandes in particular is very well placed to play this role at a high level for Amorim.

The Portuguese international midfielder thrives when given freedom to move in and out of pockets of space in the final third and he has a tendency to be aggressive when he does receive the ball in these areas.

So far there have been teething problems with these positions under Amorim and at the moment United are slightly too slow with progressing the ball forward and into these positions. 

In the derby, it will be important for United to move the ball quickly.

This will allow them to get the ball into positions between the lines to play through the initial press from City, which is still dangerous, and into positions where they can threaten the City defensive line.

United have to be more progressive from the back

It is completely normal that when a coach is in a job for a long period their teams are more comfortable with their specific tactical ideas.

We saw this clearly in terms of ball progression from deep when Sporting hosted City in the Champions League.

Zeno Debast, who played as the RCB in that game, was very good when playing driven passes that allowed Sporting to play out from the back.

Controlling possession in these positions is crucial when you play against a team like Man City as, even when they are in a down period, they can dominate the ball and push teams into deep defensive positions consistently.

Under Amorim it is fair to say Sporting were very comfortable and confident in playing out from the back.

We have not seen the United defensive line looking comfortable on the ball under Amorim, except for when Amorim has used Noussair Mazraoui in his back three.

Lisandro Martinez, who has been playing LCB, and Matthijs de Ligt, who has been playing as the central defender in the three, are better in defensive moments when they are looking to engage in duels.

But, in possession, they look far too passive with not enough aggression in their intention to pass forward and break lines of opposition pressure. 

This lack of aggression and intention to pass forward and break lines has been one of the biggest issues United have had as a whole so far under Amorim.

They need to start moving the ball quicker to take advantage of their central overloads before the opposition can get back into their defensive shape in order to truly unlock the Amorim system.

Against City, and especially a City without Rodri, this could be the difference between winning and losing.

Apply pressure quickly

While at Sporting Amorim created a team that was compact and together when they played and attacked through the thirds.

This meant that in situations where they did lose the ball in advanced areas or in the middle third they were quickly able to counter-press and put pressure on the ball in order to try to win it back quickly.

We saw this clearly in their match against City as they routinely put the opposition players under pressure quickly.

This is where Amorim has a slight advantage thanks to the presence Manuel Ugarte, who played with him at Sporting until summer 2023 when he was sold to Paris Saint-Germain.

Ugarte understands how the Portuguese coach wants his team to act and react when they are out of possession.

The midfielder is an enforcer type who will work consistently against the ball to lead the press and bring team-mates with him.

Last weekend we saw Ugarte playing alongside Kobbie Mainoo at the base of the United midfield.

Together they have the intelligence and physical traits to be effective in setting the press and looking to make sure the units in United’s team are together to make an effective press and counter press.

It is fair to say that United will have far more success when defending against the ball if they are willing to press and work as a team.

Remaining compact and playing forward quickly as a unit will prevent City from being able to dominate possession and it will put United on the front foot in this match.

Conclusion

Recent success over Guardiola and City does not mean a repeat result is in any way a certainty in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

There are positive signs so far from United under Amorim but the game has a very different complexity and it will take time for his ideas to be implemented and have the players understand what is expected of them.