The game that was unfairly billed as Ruben Amorim’s test sent Man Utd fans into dreamland as Sporting thrashed Manchester City 4-1 in a finishing clinic.
This was never the game Ruben Amorim could be judged on and the narrative surrounding the game and how important the result would be for a club not even in the same competition, Man Utd, was completely unfair.
Sporting were always going to be huge underdogs but the way Amorim’s team tore City apart on transitions and finished with ruthlessness will have fans singing his name despite their own team not being in action until November 7!
Still, result aside, there was one clear learning point for Man Utd fans from the game about their incoming manager which will transfer to Old Trafford.
Man Utd fans learn about Ruben Amorim
When the teamsheet dropped, there wasn’t any major surprise as the XI was along the same lines and the three-at-the-back system wasn’t dropped.
He was never going to drop the system which has brought him much success and the same can be expected at Old Trafford so that wasn’t a new learning point.
Then again, formation on the pitch doesn’t matter. What matters is the role of the players and therein was a clear learning for United fans.
In Portugal’s league, Sporting are a heavyweight and dominate most games with the ball, overwhelming opponents with talent and skill.
That wasn’t going to be the case vs Man City, so all eyes were on Amorim on how he sets his team up in a game where the match dynamic would be reversed to what Sporting is used to.
Turns out, not very different at all, and that came back to haunt Sporting in this game as they were repeatedly caught out trying to play from the back.
City’s press overwhelmed them and they lost possession countless times in dangerous positions near their own box but Amorim’s side continued to do it.
They eventually scored from a direct ball over City’s defence, proving they can mix it up as well on occasion.
Once they sensed that weakness, Amorim’s side played direct and with extreme verticality, relying on their forwards’ pace to unsettle a scrambled City defence, scoring three second-half goals to thrash City.
It proved Amorim’s ability to change things on the fly and make in-game adjustments, something which Ten Hag was often criticised for.
Man Utd will finally have a playing style and identity
It was thought that this would come with Erik ten Hag’s arrival but then he turned his whole playbook upside down in his second season.
The claim that his Man Utd squad would not play like Ajax then soured the majority of the fanbase since that is what he was hired for in the fans’ minds.
Amorim being so committed to a style of play despite growing pains will be welcomed by a club and a fanbase that has been crying out for an identity for the last decade.
It has been botched previously due to scattergun coaching hires, questionable recruitment decisions, and a lack of help from the structure above.
Those have all been fixed and Amorim looks like he’ll be given the power to put his stamp on the squad tactically, despite his way of setting the team up foreign to the club.
Ten Hag famously dropped his style of play after the first two games of his tenure which yielded the remarkable Liverpool result and a great run afterward.
In the long-term, however, he could never return to that game, and his tenure ended with a mix and match of multiple philosophies, never zeroing in on one and providing an identity.
Amorim showed vs Man City that if he can get Sporting to play like that vs Man City, then at least the identity question will be answered soon at Old Trafford too.
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