Ruben Amorim receives support from unlikely ex-Man Utd star

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 11 Oct 2025 10:02 BST
• 2 min read

News

Ruben Amorim has received support from an unlikely source for persevering with his 3-4-3 formation.

The Portuguese head coach has received criticism on a weekly basis this season as Man Utd have again struggled despite a significant transfer outlay in the summer on Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Senne Lammens.

As well as the results, a lot of the negative comments have been aimed at his continued deployment of the aforementioned 3-4-3 set-up.

Ex players like Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have questioned why Amorim is still in a job.

But, Amorim does have support in places.

Michael Owen, who controversially signed for Man Utd on a free transfer in 2009 despite his links to Liverpool, believes it is simply in-vogue to blame all of United's problems on formations.

"They have changed the manager numerous times since Fergie left. Then they blamed the players; spent billions on players and got some of the best players in the world, only for the club to be seen as a bit of a graveyard for players in the last decade," Owen told the Daily Mail.

"Next it was the people buying the players, so everyone wanted rid of them. Then it was the board, so the board was shuffled around when Sir Jim Ratcliffe got involved. Then it's the fault of the facilities so they wanted to revamp the training ground and put plans in for a new stadium.

"Then it's the staff, so half the backroom staff, physios, doctors, canteen lady, the whole thing, wiped clean and a new start there. The latest one is it’s because they're playing a back-three.

"If I'm not wrong, I watched Erik ten Hag about a year ago playing a back-four, and it was some of the most awful football I've ever seen from a Manchester United team.

"Some great teams over the years have played with a back-three. I'm not saying that's my favourite formation at all, and I'm not saying that Amorim is right to be steadfast in his beliefs in that formation. But I certainly don't think all of United's problems now are because they play with the back-three.

"It's embarrassing if you're going to say the main reason for the downturn is because they play a back-three. I mean, it really isn't. They could go back to a back-four and play as bad as they did under Ten Hag, then the screams would be equally as loud."

The Red Devils are currently 10th in the Premier League with 10 points taken from their opening seven matches, while they were eliminated from the League Cup by League One side Grimsby.

Amorim earned a short reprieve from criticism last week when Man Utd defeated newly promoted Sunderland 2-0.

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