The reactions to Manchester United’s 0-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the UEFA Europa League have been quick and extreme.
Many have opined that this is quite possibly the worst phase in the club’s history. Some have demanded the immediate sacking of their manager, Ruben Amorim, for whom losing in football matches at his current club has become a regular affair.
Still, one must avoid overreaction while assessing the situation at Manchester United. One defeat does not make the team worse by a few notches, just as a win in the Europa League final cannot undo the string of bad performances Tottenham Hotspur have had.
United had 73% ball possession in the match and could have scored on at least a couple of occasions. A string of saves by Guglielmo Vicario and a goal-line clearance by Micky van de Ven rescued them in the end.
Those are not just excuses, but merely stating the way the match took place in Bilbao on Wednesday, May 21.
Inability To Score Goals a Major Concern for Manchester United
Manchester United have scored 42 goals in 37 Premier League matches so far. Only the three teams that are going to be relegated and Everton have scored fewer goals than them this season.
It is a damning statistic for them and the thing becomes even more shocking if one considers that Bruno Fernandes alone has scored eight of those goals.
It is quite clear that United’s 3-4-2-1 formation is not working. Their forwards like Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund are seemingly not capable of exchanging enough passes in the final third to break the opposition defence open.
The above formation works fine when United are playing a stronger team and are content playing defensive football.
The formation then becomes 5-4-1 effectively and the defence has held firm at times with that set-up, most memorably in the FA Cup victory over Arsenal.
Playing defensive football and going into occasional counter-attacks is the strategy that has worked best for United since the times of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge.
Erik ten Hag also followed the same principle primarily. However, when they are up against weaker teams and have the urgency to grind a result out, they have often found the going to be difficult.
Pressing hard for a goal in numbers makes them vulnerable defensively as well and they tend to concede goals.
To worsen the situation for them, United cannot play a 3-4-3 formation either, as there is no specialist left-winger in the team except for Alejandro Garnacho, who has often found himself out of favour with Amorim.
With the departure of Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, there is no left winger in the squad other than Garnacho.
Starting with Mount on the left in the Europa League final made little sense.
What Is the Way Out for Amorim?
Amorim has stuck to the strategy of playing with a back-three that can easily become a back-five against stronger teams.
However, if he must continue playing with it, he should switch to a 3-5-2 formation, as neither 3-4-3 nor 3-4-2-1 seems to be working for him.
United looked most dangerous against Tottenham when they played crosses into the penalty box and playing with a 3-5-2 will enable them to do so.
However, even finalizing the optimum formation hardly presents a solution for them. Rather, it only expands the problem further.
At the moment, United do not have a solitary proper goal-scoring forward in their squad, let alone two.
Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have 17 goals between them this season – hardly the kind of numbers that would enthuse a United supporter.
Therefore, if Manchester United are to play with a 3-5-2, they will need to sign at least another striker and then prepare their strikers to press high for the ball or drop down to aid in defence, as playing two upfront might otherwise become a defensive liability.
They could sign either Victor Osimhen or Liam Delap or maybe both, and try to offload Zirkzee or Hojlund.
Then, United will need to sign a right wing-back to use as a back-up for Noussair Mazraoui. They might then sell Diogo Dalot, who has not been very impressive for the team.
However, irrespective of what their future plans might be, the club management cannot afford to act in haste and be judicious in their approach.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
Recording Date: 22.05.2025