Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United Have 343 Problems After Brentford Loss

BRENTFORD, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 27: Manchester United head coach / manager Ruben Amorim reacts during the Premier League match between Brentford and Manchester United at Brentford Community Stadium on September 27, 2025 in Brentford, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

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Manchester United suffered its third defeat in six games when it lost 3-1 at Brentford in the first game of the Premier League weekend on Saturday morning.

The loss raised further questions about Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation, one that the Portuguese has stuck with throughout his time at the club despite it never bringing the desired results.

United has suffered 17 defeats and won only nine in 33 Premier League games during Amorim’s time in charge.

There has been little evidence this season that the players are adapting effectively to the shape deployed by the latest manager to have a try at turning around the club’s fortunes.

When Is A System Not A System? When It’s Only A Formation

Amorim’s insistence on retaining the 3-4-3 means questions are asked each week about his determination to stick with the formation.

It also raises wider questions and considerations around the relationship between formations, systems, and tactics.

A formation is only part of a system of play, not the whole system. A formation isn’t a tactic, either. In theory, a manager should be able to use numerous formations to deploy their preferred tactics or system.

For example, teams well known for high pressing and intensity have done so from formations that feature a back three or a back four, and can be fluid depending on the positioning of the opposition.

Such a style of play is based around where the players need to be out of possession in relation to the positioning and formation of the opponent they are looking to put under pressure.

This is one of the reasons many teams can be seen to play a version of 4-2-4, or 4-4-2 out of possession, because it allows for good coverage of the field when pressing high, and also provides the platform for the secondary press if the opposition works its way around the first.

Similarly, possession-oriented managers can set their team up in one of numerous formations. The 4-3-3 became one of the most common shapes for keeping the ball, but this can be tweaked to numerous other formations, as shown most often by Pep Guardiola throughout his time as a manager with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City.

Three’s A Crowd

Back threes will often be used during certain phases in the game, even if they aren’t the starting or dominant formation a team lines up in.

Many teams will leave one full-back alongside the center-backs to form a back three when they have possession, which is a way to guard against counter-attacks, while the other full-back can be given license to join the attack.

We’ve seen full-backs in midfield, false nines, a return of the inside forward and half-backs, but a manager’s system will often still be recognisable even when there are tweaks to the positioning of individual players and to the overall formation.

Manchester United’s style of play can be difficult to discern. This is probably why the style is labelled mostly as 3-4-3, as a formation, and not as a way of playing in or out of possession.

Amorim has spoken about this in the past, commenting that what Manchester United needs is more than just a formation.

“A lot of people talk about the 3-4-3 and the 4-3-3 and all that stuff, but when I think as a player or as a team-mate of Manchester United, it is not a system or formation, it’s like the character of the players, the way they see the club,” Amorim said last year.

“We have to focus on that before how we play, how we press.

“The most important thing for me at this moment is to create the principles, the identity, and the character that we had in the past.”

Formations Matter

Manchester United’s struggles with the 3-4-3, or 3-4-2-1, have also emphasised that formations are still an important part of the game.

Though this has manifested itself negatively in this case, it always feels like one simple solution to United’s problems, even if a temporary one, would be to go with a simpler, more compact formation, such as 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.

Many teams do make the 3-4-3 work, including Crystal Palace, which was unbeaten in 17 games going into its game against top-of-the-table Liverpool this weekend utilizing this shape.

It is safe to say that the 3-4-3 has not yet worked for Amorim’s Manchester United, and it is getting to the point where something needs to change if the team is to get back to winning ways.