In an interview this week, Ruben Amorim explained to Sky Sports that the signs of promise United showed in the second half of the 1-1 draw against Arsenal on March 9 needed to become more frequent. He added, “We want to have more possession, sometimes with a little bit more high pressure in certain moments.”
United certainly didn’t show those qualities in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 first leg against Real Sociedad three days before the Arsenal match. They had 44 per cent possession — their lowest in this season’s Europa League — and were largely passive, with La Real spurning several late opportunities to win the contest.
The performance prompted concerns over how United would deal with the return of influential midfielder Martin Zubimendi, who was back for his side’s trip to Old Trafford after missing the first leg due to illness.
But United responded with arguably their best out-of-possession performance under Amorim, which set up a 4-1 win that featured a Bruno Fernandes hat-trick and was simplified by Jon Aramburu’s 63rd-minute dismissal. Zubimendi, meanwhile, attempted just 19 first-half passes, 11 of which ended in his own half.
United’s ploy to contain Zubimendi was clear early on. Rasmus Hojlund was tasked with tracking the Spain international to prevent him from progressing the ball forward, as seen here in the fifth minute.
Real Sociedad recycle the ball back to goalkeeper Alex Remiro. With Hojlund marking Zubimendi, United’s No 10s Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho are tasked with pressing the centre-backs. Patrick Dorgu and Casemiro are ready to push forward if needed.
Remiro passes to left-back Aihen Munoz, which prompts United wing-back Diogo Dalot to jump forward.
From here, Munoz is able to find winger Sheraldo Becker and a clever one-two releases him down the left flank. Dalot is slow to track back and United make several errors before Matthijs de Ligt fouls Mikel Oyarzabal in the box, with Oyarzabal scoring from the spot.
The issue was not with the idea itself — Amorim’s Sporting CP side often sent their wing-backs forward to lock opponents in wider areas and reduce their options — but in its execution.
United carried with the approach, and in the 13th minute, it nearly paid dividends.
Here, as Real Sociedad work the ball to Munoz, Dalot pushes up again. This time, Noussair Mazraoui gets his foot to the ball ahead of Becker and the ball is eventually worked to Fernandes.
Fernandes exchanges passes with Casemiro, who finds Dalot on the overlap. He then crosses for Dorgu — the wing-back to wing-back move Amorim’s Sporting virtually perfected — and he heads across goal.
A rushed clearance from La Real came back to United. As Casemiro looks up, Dalot initially starts a run…
… but stops as Casemiro passes to Mazraoui. When Casemiro gets the return pass, Dalot jogs infield, dragging Zubimendi with him. That creates space for Fernandes to run into and Casemiro floats a first-time pass into that area.
Fernandes latches onto the pass and squares it for Hojlund, who is fouled by Igor Zubeldia, resulting in the penalty that draws United level.
Fernandes’ goal brought with it the momentum United needed. They dominated possession over the next 15 minutes as Real Sociedad reset.
This period showed why the criticism Amorim receives for sticking to his 3-4-3 formation often overlooks the varying out-of-possession shapes his team takes.
In this snap below, from the 33rd minute, United have adopted an aggressive 4-2-4, which cuts out the supply to Zubimendi while removing his midfield partners, Brais Mendez and Pablo Marin, as line-breaking options.
Real Sociedad are forced backwards and United press with aggression, forcing an errant long pass.
The visitors win the ball back and pass to Remiro, but he is pressed by Hojlund. That frees up Zubimendi, with Garnacho slow to react, and he helps Imanol Alguacil’s team work through United’s press.
But with United pushing Ayden Heaven and Casemiro up the pitch (as seen in image 4 above), La Real are forced backwards.
In the image below, Hojlund is seen directing Zirkzee, who looks towards Amorim for guidance, to press Remiro while Hojlund stays close to Zubimendi.
Zirkzee is quickly joined by Garnacho in closing down Remiro, who goes long towards Mendez, but the pass is intercepted by Dorgu.
With Real Sociedad now thinking twice about building from the back, Amorim adjusts United’s press again. This is United’s initial shape as Remiro considers his options in the 35th minute.
Amorim signals for Garnacho to push wider to the right… before asking Zirkzee to curve his run rather than press Remiro in a straight line.
Zirkzee does as he is told — twice — as Remiro and Zubeldia exchange passes, while Hojlund’s positioning negates Zubimendi as an option.
Remiro passes to Munoz and this time, instead of Dalot pushing up the pitch, Garnacho rushes towards him and slides in to intercept.
Garnacho’s intervention provoked a loud cheer from the fans at Old Trafford — validation from the crowd for the fruits of Amorim’s ideology.
It made Real Sociedad alter their system too. After attempting to go long with only six of his first 13 passes, 17 of Remiro’s final 19 passes were long balls.
Arguably the biggest testament to United’s improved work without the ball came early in the second half.
In the example below, Zubimendi has slotted into a centre-back position to get on the ball with Real Sociedad down by a goal after Fernandes’ 50th-minute penalty. With Zubimendi dropping that deep, United change up their press again to a compact 4-4-2, cutting out most progression zones.
Against Real Sociedad, United showed concrete signs that they are starting to understand what Amorim wants from them out of possession.
Fernandes acknowledged that they were “making very good progress” on that front, while Amorim said his team “showed a little bit of the future” and “dealt with the problems of the present” in a testing week.
