I might be wrong, but here’s my honest take on Man Utd’s 3-1 loss to Brentford. Yes, that’s now 17 defeats in 33 league games under Ruben Amorim. Only 32 points from 35 games. Those are relegation numbers, and still no back-to-back wins.
I really want Amorim to succeed, but he keeps repeating the same mistakes: wrong lineups, predictable subs, and no plan B when things go wrong.
Bruno is sometimes another issue. If he keeps playing every single game without being dropped, we won’t move forward.
Šeško was the only player who could hold his head high. The rest were poor, and the system didn’t help.
Playing a back five while chasing the game just invited pressure. Our press is weak, easy to beat, and teams punish us.
I don’t even understand why we signed Lammens if Bayındır is still starting. It makes no sense.
Cunha frustrated me the most, shooting from crazy angles when better options were available. Bad decision-making.
And playing Maguire and De Ligt wide in a back three? Too slow for that setup. One of them should stay central.
Honestly, another defeat doesn’t even hurt anymore. That’s how low Manchester United has taken us.
Why the 3-4-3 Works at Palace but Fails at United
Let’s be real: the 3-4-3 itself isn’t broken. At Crystal Palace, it looks solid. At Manchester United, it looks like chaos. The difference? Players, not tactics.
At Palace, everyone works like their career depends on it. Wing-backs run up and down all game. Midfielders press, chase, and cover like soldiers. Even attackers track back and fight for the team. That’s hunger. That’s discipline. That’s belief.
At United, the same system collapses. Why? Too many players jog instead of pressing. Midfielders switch off and don’t track back. Defenders get exposed because teammates won’t do the dirty work.
At Palace, “average” players play like warriors. At United, “superstars” play entitled. Talent without desire means nothing.
Until United’s players find hunger, fight, and humility, no formation in the world will work. Not 3-4-3, not 4-3-3, not even 4-2-3-1.
Football isn’t just tactics. It’s about effort and heart. Palace have it. United don’t.
The margin of quality in the Premier League is paper thin. The gap between the best player in the league and the worst is smaller than the gap between the worst player in the PL and the best player in many other leagues across the world. The manager’s job, in part, is to further separate that minor gap in quality to make their players look one or two steps better than they are.
Equally, from the tactical side, the managers play a game of chess, constantly looking to exploit weaknesses, develop attack and defence, and build strategies (as both a starting point and as a matter of adaptations).
In chess, there are 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play the first 10 moves alone, 169.5 octillion. Each possible move opens up thousands more. It’s the same thing in football. Each tweak by a manager, tendency of a player, tilt in momentum – all open the door for more and more possibilities. The best chess players, like the best managers, are those who set out with a plan, understand the available options, adapt to what their opponents do, and play as the match develops.
Amorim doesn’t do this. He doesn’t adjust to how the game is going. In 42 out of 49 games, he’s subbed on a CB for a CB. His greatest tweaks are having a CB play slightly further forward or throwing an attacking midfielder at wing-back. In a world of 169.5 octillion moves, he never plays more than a handful.
Now ask yourself, if you were one of the best chess players in the world and you knew that your opponent would always play the same opening and make the same basic moves every game, and you had 3 days or a week to prepare, could you map out a way to beat him?
Most would say yes. And that’s why most managers beat us.
– MUFC BASE via Ole was right, Esq
