Ruben Amorim has effectively used this season as a launching pad for the next one when he’ll know more about his players and their suitability to his system.
Already, there have been some casualties of that system and some beneficiaries, a process that has been accelerated and will benefit Ruben Amorim when he plans for the next season.
There is a core of favourites forming at the club which is clear to see but Rio Ferdinand has put an asterisk mark on two of those players.
He said they are both “solid” but pose a problem for Amorim because they are preventing him from playing the way he wants.
Rio Ferdinand on ‘solid’ Man Utd duo
When Amorim came to Old Trafford, his first few games were marked by rotation and that is when he would have learned a lot about his players.
Since then, the rotation has decreased but he’s continued the process, most recently admitting that Casemiro has impressed him after leaving him out earlier.
However, two players who have always been dependable for Amorim are the ones who Rio Ferdinand thinks are holding him back.
It’s the centre-back duo of Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt, two cornerstones of the defence, especially when starting in the middle of the back three.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said that he “doesn’t back” the duo to play on the halfway line, and that is having an effect on the whole system.
He said: “We don’t have enough dynamic players to compete man-to-man in the Premier League. At the moment, if you want to play 1v1 on the halfway line, De Ligt, and Maguire, even though they’ve been solid this season, I don’t really want to see them on the halfway line 1v1 against Haaland or an Isak. I don’t back them in that situation.”
Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire are a dilemma
There is no doubting the individual quality of De Ligt and Maguire but, at the same time, what Ferdinand is saying makes a lot of sense.
In fact, it’s something Amorim has said before too, conceding that Maguire and De Ligt flourish in a system he doesn’t want to play.
It’s why instances of the two starting together are getting increasingly rare as United starts playing more in the opponent’s half by circulating the ball and squeezing the pitch.
Going forward, it is reasonable to expect that they will be substitutes for each other instead of occupying to starting spots in the XI.
Because if they’re starting together next season regularly, it will effectively be an admission of defeat by Amorim, either of his system, or a poor window.
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