Ruben Amorim complained earlier this season that his 3-4-3 formation is always to blame whenever Manchester United lose but on the rare occasion they win, his tactics are not credited. The coach's system has been the No. 1 talking point since he took charge of the Red Devils, with many believing it cannot work in the Premier League. But Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner is proving otherwise.
Glasner has been playing the same formation as Amorim since he succeeded the beloved Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park in February 2024, with the team sitting 15th in the Premier League. But rather than being the straitjacket that it often seems to be for Amorim's United, the 3-4-3 shape has led to Palace enjoying one of the club's greatest ever spells.
In less than two years in charge he has led Palace to win the FA Cup (their first major trophy), consequentially taking them into Europe for the first time. He has also overseen the club's longest ever unbeaten run, spanning 19 games in all competitions and six months, and won this season's Community Shield. Palace are currently fifth in the Premier League, enjoying their best run in the division and their best season since finishing third in the old First Division in 1990, when they also reached the FA Cup final.
It is quite a different story for Amorim, who last season oversaw United's lowest league finish in 51 years and whose team were incapable of beating 10-man Everton in their last game despite having a one-man advantage for 77 minutes. As United head to south London to face Palace on Sunday, GOAL looks at six things Amorim could learn from Glasner in his long quest to make his formation finally work…
Getty Images SportPick formation based on players
Amorim and Glasner may be the two most famous exponents of 3-4-3 in the modern game but only one of them has made it their hallmark. While Amorim began playing the formation as early as his fourth game in charge of semi-professional side Casa Pia, his very first job, Glasner only started adopting it when he became Eintracht Frankfurt coach as it had worked for his predecessor.
"In my career, I have used every single system," Glasner told . "I got promoted in Austria with a 4-4-2, then we switched to a 3-4-3. In Wolfsburg, we reached the Champions League with a 4-2-3-1. In Frankfurt, they played with three at the back before and it fit the squad. I always look at what system might suit the players we have best. My favourite system is 4-4-2, but do we have the right players for this?"
Amorim's mistake was to land at Old Trafford hell-bent on playing his formation even though the squad he inherited was stacked with traditional wingers and shorn of good full-backs who could become effective wing-backs. Against Everton he stuck with the formation even when the circumstances demanded a tactical tweak, showing a concerning rigidity contrasting with Glasner's pragmatism.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportFocus less on possession
Pep Guardiola's Barcelona made every team obsessed with having lots of possession but the game has shifted back towards a more equal balance in recent years. United's defeat against Everton was the most flagrant example that dominating the ball does not always win you games: they had 70 percent of the ball overall and 75% in the second half.
Palace are showing just what you can do with less of the ball. They rank third-bottom in the Premier League for possession but are fifth in the table. United are ranked eighth for possession but are 10th in the table. Indeed, throughout this season United have tended to get better results when having less of the ball.
They beat Liverpool with 36.5% possession and also had less of the ball when they beat Brighton and Chelsea, remarkably only having 41% of the ball against the Blues despite having a man advantage for most of the first half. The only game they have won while dominating the ball was against Burnley, who have the lowest possession count in the league, while they had marginally more possession when they beat Sunderland (50.2%).
When Amorim's Sporting CP thrashed Manchester City after he had accepted the United job, the coach warned: "United cannot play the way we play, they cannot be so defensive." But that is not the case any more. What United fans want right now is results and to climb up the table. When long-suffering supporters were celebrating their first win at Anfield in a decade, no one in the away end was grumbling about their lack of possession.
Getty Images SportHave a reliable centre-forward
The last time United played Crystal Palace, Jean-Phillipe Mateta gave a clinic in centre-forward play which was juxtaposed by the absurdity of Kobbie Mainoo starting as a false-nine for the Red Devils. It was a game which underlined the importance of having a streetwise, Premier League-tested centre-forward leading the line. But United did not learn any lessons from it.
While Mateta was being touted as a smart option for United in the summer, they instead paid £74m ($98m) for Benjamin Sesko, despite him having the same flaws as Rasmus Hojlund, the player he was replacing after the Dane proved ill-equipped to cope with the demands of the Premier League and the pressure of playing for United. Sesko, who is in the middle of an expected six-week lay off with a knee injury, has scored two goals so far and it says a lot that Amorim opted against starting him against Liverpool and Tottenham, playing Matheus Cunha as a false nine instead. Joshua Zirkzee got his big opportunity against Everton but failed to take it.
Mateta, meanwhile, has scored six goals this season, making him the joint-fourth top scorer in the league. In the last two campaigns he scored a combined 30 goals. No one in United's squad came close to those numbers. Mateta is still not an elite-level striker and it should not be forgotten that in his second season at Palace he started only six league matches, being Hodgson's second-choice behind Odsonne Édouard. He has steadily learned the trade of what it takes to be a Premier League forward and even when he doesn't score he gives his team a clear focal point, something United clearly lack despite spending close to £184m on three strikers since 2023.
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Getty Images SportPlay wing-backs on correct wings
Wing-backs are utterly essential to a 3-4-3 system and Amorim has struggled to get a tune out of the men he has chosen to perform the role. Amad Diallo is the one exception as he has been one of the few players to continue to shine over the last year although playing at wing-back does not really suit his strengths.
While Amad has been able to demonstrate his attacking quality as an inverted wing-back and has struck up a promising partnership with Bryan Mbeumo, playing further back than his natural role as a right winger has its pitfalls. His defensive shortcomings were exposed against Nottingham Forest and he is not helped by being forced to defend on his weaker right side.
The same is true of Diogo Dalot although for different reasons. Dalot is naturally right-footed but is often deployed as left-wing-back, meaning he struggles to cause damage going outside defenders and routine goes inside, making it easier to defend against. Gary Neville was furious with Amorim for bringing Dalot on against Everton to replace Patrick Dorgu, while Jamie Carragher previously said of the Portugal international in this position: "He can't beat a man. He's not going to play a clever pass, he's not going to get a cross in."
Glasner has gone for a simpler approach, playing the right-footed Daniel Munoz at right-wing-back and the left-footed Tyrick Mitchell on the opposite flank. Munoz has contributed to 17 Premier League goals since joining Palace in January 2024. Mitchell has 11 goal contributions since the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
The numbers only tell half of the story though: the wing-backs' legs and lungs are a big reason why Glasner's team are so dangerous going forward on the break. Mitchell and Munoz both currently rank in the top five in the Premier League for distance covered, according to OPTA.