“You can really….”: Bournemouth skipper’s verdict on new United system will not impress Amorim

Manchester United decided to adopt a brand-new system for their Premier League clash against Bournemouth on Monday. Ruben Amorim, who had refused to tweak his 3-4-3 system up till now, chose to switch to a back-four after trialling the new idea during training in the build-up to Monday’s encounter. And while the change meant the attack purred at times, the backline seemed confused and that resulted in a thoroughly entertaining 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. Ideally, the tweak should have caught the visitors off-guard, but that was not the case as the news had leaked in the build-up to the game. Amorim changed his system United have launched an inquiry to unearth the latest mole in the squad, after seeing the Cherries score at least three times at the Theatre of Dreams for the third season running. After the game, Bournemouth skipper Adam Smith was asked about Amorim’s latest experiment, and he initially praised the change, terming it difficult to defend against. “The move (switching from a back three to back four) is really tough to defend. Mason Mount comes in, drops down deep, Dalot goes really high. Luke Shaw sometimes comes really high and wide. Cunha drops down.” The 20-time English league champions mustered 24 shots, double that of the away side, and could have scored a lot more if not for some lax finishing. What Adam Smith thought However, the game did resemble a boxing match, especially in the second half as each side traded blow after blow without hardly any resistance. And Smith opined that while the attack did cause them problems, the Red Devils remain a soft touch when it came to the defensive side of things. “On the other hand on the counter you can really, really punish them. So maybe that’s why it was such a high-scoring game,” as relayed by The Daily Mail. United have kept a mere one clean sheet all season, and have conceded the most goals among the top-12 teams in the division. Clearly, there is a lot of work to do for Amorim to get the balance right before his side’s next game against Aston Villa. Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25