Six ways Ruben Amorim can learn from Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace in bid to make 3-4-3 work at Man Utd

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 Sky Sports. "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.

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.

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.

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.

February 2024 was an important time for Palace and not just because it was when Glasner arrived. Adam Wharton completed his £22m move from Blackburn Rovers on transfer deadline day on February 2. After a short bedding-in period after stepping up a league from the Championship, he began to impose himself on the team, helping them win six of their final seven games. Among them was the 4-0 hammering of United which led to Red Devils' bosses to seriously considering sacking Erik ten Hag.

Wharton missed almost half of last season due to injuries and recovering from groin surgery but he was there for the biggest moments, including the latter rounds of the FA Cup and the victory over Manchester City in the final. He underpinned Palace's 19-game unbeaten run between the end of last season and the start of this one. 

His controlled passing is what makes the Eagles tick. Wharton, who made his long-awaited first start for England earlier this month against Albania, is very understated. Take his recent revelation that he has little interest in significantly increasing his goals and assists.

United have been crying out for a young player who can boss their midfield for years to come and Wharton is one of the best players they could hope to sign in the role, along with Elliot Anderson. Casemiro has been doing a lot of heavy lifting in midfield but he struggles to last more than an hour and his passing range is limited. Fellow midfielder Bruno Fernandes, meanwhile, seems ill-suited to his new-found role deeper in midfield, with his high-risk, high-gain attitude to passing much more useful further up the pitch as a No. 10.

When Amorim loses a game, he tends to give a refreshingly honest assessment of his players' performance. Statements such as "We are the worst Manchester United team in history" or actions such as smashing a television in anger are gold for journalists and content creators but not very good for team morale. Amorim is often too honest and it can often look like he has no belief in his project. Glasner is completely different.

Take how he responded to losing 5-2 to City last April after throwing away a two-goal lead. Rather than bemoaning his team's inability to hold on to the lead, he told reporters: "I told Pep afterwards if we meet again you can't play again in this system because we will solve it". A month later Palace met City in the FA Cup final and won. 

City are far from the only big side Palace have toppled under Glasner. Palace have beaten Liverpool on three occasions this season, becoming the first team to beat the Premier League champions back in September. Only Arsenal have lost fewer games than Palace in the league. "It’s important we respect the top teams, but not so much that we don’t believe in ourselves,” he explained. "If we always have the mindset that it’s Arsenal, it’s Manchester City, then we will never win."

Glasner has made a team that is usually fighting to avoid relegation believe they are capable of much more. And he has demonstrated that they are. As Wharton told The Athletic: "He’s facing some of the top managers week in, week out, and I don’t think there’s a game we’ve played that he hasn’t given us a solution to beat one of the top teams… or any team."