Ruben Amorim should park the bus to Europa League glory! Man Utd can salvage horror season by embracing defensive approach that rattled Arsenal

When Amorim arrived at United in November, he made two declarations that were slightly contradictory. First he hailed the influence of Mourinho, whom he had shadowed for a week at Carrington when he working on his coaching diploma. He then he outlined that he was not going to compromise on his style of play. "As a coach you have to choose one way or another, I choose always 100 percent our way," he said. "I choose to risk a bit. I believe so much in our way of playing, they will believe too. There is no second way."

But the Arsenal game was the latest sign that Amorim is ready to compromise. United had less than 32 percent possession against the Gunners, the lowest amount since they had last faced Arsenal in the FA Cup in January. United had just 29.6% of the ball that day, with the caveat that they played the final half-hour and all of extra-time with 10 men. That win on penalties was arguably the greatest result of Amorim's brief and chaotic time in charge of United thus far.

But it was not the best result he had enjoyed all season; that was when his Sporting CP side obliterated Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League in November. That magical night at the Estadio Jose Alvalade was also the lowest amount of possession an Amorim side has had all season, as they saw only 27.3% of the ball. In other words, the idea that Amorim always wants to dominate the ball is a fallacy. While it is true that his Sporting side would monopolise the ball in most of their league games - in a division where they were one of the three biggest spenders - he was happy to cede possession to superior opponents.

Sunday's clash was the fifth occasion in United's last six games in which they had the lower amount of possession. The only time in that period when they had more of the ball was against Everton, when they did not play well at all before battling back to draw 2-2, though they were fortunate to avoid conceding a last-minute penalty at Goodison Park.

Indeed, some of United's worst performances under Amorim have been when they have had more of the ball. They had 60 percent possession when they were thrashed 3-0 at home by Bournemouth and had also had more of the ball against Newcastle in one of their worst displays of the season.

Against Arsenal, Amorim played fast and loose with the 3-4-3 formation that has been the hallmark of his coaching career, turning it into a 5-4-1 when out of possession. Joshua Zirkzee's deep positioning often made it seem like a 5-5-0 as the Dutchman rarely ventured into the opposition box and focused more on holding the ball up than getting forward. The defensive shape made United more cohesive than they have been on many occasions under Amorim.

A good understanding was formed by wing-backs Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, who combined for one of the best moves of the game as the Moroccan's volley was saved by David Raya. In the middle, Bruno Fernandes worked in tandem with Casemiro, who delivered one of his best displays in recent memory and sparked a move that could have seen United re-take the lead late on when he mugged Mikel Merino, only for Declan Rice to stop the ponderous Rasmus Hojlund in his tracks with a slide tackle.

Mazraoui, who has been hit and miss when deployed as a wing-back, looked much more effective with his team playing on the counter rather than when trying to build possession in the middle of the pitch. Zirkzee did not have a great game, but he did look better as a linking target man who controlled long balls rather than as a No. 10 trying to orchestrate play. Alejandro Garnacho has had a frustrating period under Amorim, but he had one of his best games in recent memory against Arsenal. He repeatedly got the better of Riccardo Calafiori, with Gary Neville on commentary for Sky Sports saying that the Argentine had gotten into the Italian's head.

And there's the nub of the situation Amorim has in front of him. He has inherited a squad of players that had never previously played in a 3-4-3 and are not suited to his vision of play. But these players did have success in Erik ten Hag's first season, as well as in last season's FA Cup run, playing in a more pragmatic way, keeping things tight at the back and hitting teams on the counter.

Amorim said he could feel fans getting frustrated with United's approach against Arsenal at times, but on the whole Old Trafford was fired up and seemed to feed off the team's work-rate and attitude. While supporters obviously want to see attacking football and thrilling wing play, they also want to see crunching tackles and players giving their all. United did just that on Sunday and the crowd oved it. As the coach said: "The spirit, the following the plan that is a good thing, an example for the future."

The Old Trafford faithful were delighted by Matthijs de Ligt's aggression and enjoyed Casemiro breathing down the Gunners' necks. They were energised by the sweeping counter-attacks they saw, which compensated for sitting deep in a low block for much of the game. Lets not forget that Louis van Gaal's slow, meandering possession football bored supporters to death to the point that attendances dropped and club directors began to get concerned that people were not going to renew their season tickets.

And Sir Jim Ratcliffe enjoyed it too, despite the less than complimentary chants he was subjected to both before and during the game. "I thought it was a really impressive performance. They could not have worked harder. They couldn’t have been more committed," he said in his interview with The Telegraph the following day.

United's co-owner also defended Amorim against criticism for a hugely disappointing tenure so far by pointing to the fact he is operating with very few of the squad's top earners due to players leaving on loan and suffering injuries. Ratcliffe said: "Half the squad’s missing for Ruben. If you look at the top eight players in terms of salaries in Manchester United, 50% of those are not available to Ruben. And if you had the same at Manchester City or Liverpool, it would be a very different case for them."

Yet another reason, then, to play defensively in the Europa League as a means to an end. United cannot rely on the visionary passing of Lisandro Martinez, the experience of Luke Shaw or the talismanic quality of Amad Diallo. They need to embrace other ways of winning.

Ratcliffe also described Amorim as "a very thoughtful guy", and that is certainly true. Many coaches would not have aired their grievances with the tactics they had just deployed after such an encouraging performance and result against a top rival. The fact that the Portuguese said he does not want to play this type of football very often sets him apart from Mourinho. 'The Special One' might have delivered United's best points total in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but his reactive football had a shelf life and his tension-filled third season in charge showed its limits in the long term as he was sacked by December.

Yet Mourinho also got the team to qualify for the Champions League in both of his full seasons in charge, and the first time around he did so by winning the Europa League, deploying defensive tactics and progressing by just a single goal from the last-16 to the semi-finals before outsmarting Ajax in the final and winning 2-0. After hoisting the trophy in Stockholm, Mourinho gave a typically pointed post-match interview in which he declared: "There are lots of poets in football, but poets don't win many titles."

While United have not hired him to be another Mourinho, Amorim can take a leaf out of his mentor's book and replicate his Europa League triumph by following the same blueprint as against Arsenal. United do eventually want Amorim to properly implement his 3-4-3 formation, with chief executive Omar Berrada also telling The Telegraph that the pain the team have experienced this season will be worth it in the long run if they follow the coach's plan.

But Berrada and Ratcliffe will surely not mind if the coach is a little more liberal with those principles for the remainder of the European campaign and leans on the team's physical might to first progress from Thursday's last-16 second leg against Real Sociedad, and then make it all the way to the final in Bilbao. The Basque side looked limited for much of last week's 1-1 draw and they are beatable.

Indeed, none of the teams left in the Europa League are as good as Arsenal or Liverpool or Manchester City. United avoided defeat in Amorim's four games against those sides by letting United's opponents have the ball, picking them off the counter and defending like gladiators. That is the path they should follow from now on in Europe if they want to salvage this season and earn a ticket back into in the Champions League, which would be a huge boost financially, as well as in status.

Amorim, then, needs to get on the phone and find a bus to park his side all the way to lifting the Europa League trophy at San Mames. He doesn't have to buy the bus, but only rent it for the next two months. It can take him and his ravaged side to where they want to be.