Manchester United suffered a night to forget as they lost 12-11 on penalties to Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup following a 2-2 draw in regular time.
While Man United may have been unlucky to lose after such a marathon of a penalty shootout, the fact that they were unable to put the game away before penalties was concerning in and of itself, especially against a Football League Two side.
Although Andre Onana could be held responsible for some poor goalkeeping that led to the home team’s goals, it appears that manager Ruben Amorim needs to shoulder some of the blame if certain pundits are to be believed.
The formation problem
Speaking on Sky Sports, former United defender Phil Jones and Jobi McAnuff both seemed to take issue with Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation.
“When they changed and put Mason Mount in that position, they still went with a back five,” Jones remarked, referring to the moment that Mount came on as a substitute in the second half.
“We were building a back five against Grimsby,” he continued, seemingly astonished by Amorim’s tactical decision against such minnows. “We were sitting on the edge of the box, and the spare man was almost in build-up when we needed that spare man high up the pitch to overload wide or through the middle.”
Finding it difficult to allow Amorim’s puzzling tactics to slide, McAnuff jumped in.
“It just seems crazy that he [Amorim] is so wedded to this formation at all costs and in any circumstances,” McAnuff observed.
“He’s forcing people into positions at whatever the state of the game is. It just seems absolutely baffling to me,” he continued.
“There’s just no flex at all, you know, and I just feel that is something.”
Amorim’s puzzling tactics in action
Several of Amorim’s substitutions consisted of players being replaced by others in different positions.
For example, forward Bryan Mbeumo came on for wing-back Patrick Dorgu, while centre-back Matthijs de Ligt replaced central midfielder Manuel Ugarte. Later, forward Mason Mount replaced centre-back Ayden Heaven.
Despite these vastly different changes, Amorim refused to change his formation in order to better suit the players on the field, seemingly forcing a square peg into a round hole.
With Jones and McAnuff both noticing this disturbing move, one has to wonder how long Amorim will remain safe in his job should results keep going this way.
Featured image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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Mathew Cohen
A faithful Manchester United supporter, Mathew has worked as a football writer and analyst for SB Nation, FanSided, and now The Peoples Person. Mathew’s heroes include David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sir Alex Ferguson, all of whom played their part in creating some special childhood memories.
