A look at the on the pitch situation at MUFC.
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00:00Just looking at on-the-pitch situations, you had a lot of success, especially recently
00:05with a 3-4-3 shape at Sporting, obviously unbeaten in the Champions League, up to second
00:11in the new format. How does it go about implementing that at Manchester United? Do they have the
00:17personnel? Do they have what it takes to adjust to that straight away or do you think it could
00:23take time?
00:25I think a bit of both. I think you hit the nail on the head with what is the big question
00:29around all this is, do they have the personnel? Because United don't have a huge amount of
00:33resources to go into the transfer market in January, obviously always a very difficult
00:37window anyway to complete major business. I think they'll already be looking at the
00:41summer before they can actually really start shaping Amarim's squad. So he's going to have
00:45to get through really until the majority of the rest of the season with the players that
00:48he's got. I think in terms of the players that he has, goalkeepers obviously not a huge
00:53issue in that. I think he's got a plethora of centre-backs, I think he's got six centre-backs
00:57to choose from. So playing three at the back actually suits really nicely with that. Plenty
01:01of midfield choices, obviously Ten Hag play with three central midfielders, Amarim's only
01:05going to play with two, so already you're working with smaller numbers, no issue there.
01:09You've got two options up front, don't think that's a problem and you've got plenty of
01:12options in the wide attacking areas, Garnaccio, Rashford, Ahmad Anthony, so plenty of players
01:18there to choose from. The big question mark, the big uncertainty in my eyes is the wing-back
01:22roles because they've got Diogo Dalo and Masraoui who can both play in those positions,
01:27but I don't think you would describe either of them as natural wing-backs, so it's just
01:31interesting to see how they will adapt to that. And they're both of course right-footed,
01:35they're only really the two full-back options United have got at the moment. I mean, Lissandra
01:39Martinez has been filling in at left-back over the last couple of games as well, so
01:43that underlines the problems United have in the wide defensive areas. Luke Shaw is coming
01:47back from a long-term injury, should maybe be back in the next couple of weeks anyway.
01:54I don't know if he's suited to the wing-back role, I think it seems like quite a physically
01:57demanding position for him. He has played on the left centre-back role as well, I think
02:02he's more suited to the left of a back three rather than the wing-back roles, so be interested
02:07in that one. And then Tyrone Molassi, who knows when he's going to be back, he's had
02:10this long-term knee injury, been out for 18 months, I don't think Amarin will be able
02:15to rely on him for a long time. So that's a big question mark for me, is the wing-back
02:19areas. And Amarin has already said that he will, he hasn't said it explicitly, but has
02:24very heavily implied that he will play 3-4-3. I think he said something like he's got to
02:29stick with what he knows, certainly at the start. And the difficult thing for him is
02:32he comes in, I mean, Man United have got 10 fixtures across December, he's got two the
02:37end of November, and it is going to be a very condensed fixture list for him. He's not going
02:42to have time to get on the training ground and try and implement his ideas, so that is
02:45going to be the challenge for Amarin, but I'd be really interested to see how he copes
02:48with that over the next couple of weeks.