Man United boss Ruben Amorim reverted to a back three to face Wolves in the Premier League.
Wolves manager Rob Edwards was not surprised by Ruben Amorim reverting to a back three on Tuesday night. Amorim tweaked Manchester United’s tactics in the 1-0 victory against Newcastle on Boxing Day, starting the game with a back four, with Patrick Dorgu playing in an advanced role.
Newcastle struggled to get to grips with the tactical change in the opening exchanges, and their analysts were overhead trying to decipher the formation in the press box. However, Amorim reverted to 3-4-3 against Wolves, which meant Lisandro Martinez, Ayden Heaven and Luke Shaw lined up alongside Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu in the wing-back roles.
Edwards was in high spirits during his post-match press conference after claiming the first point since his appointment as Wolves manager at the beginning of November. The 43-year-old was asked whether he was surprised by Amorim’s tactics and responded: “I don’t know how many games Ruben has managed, but it is overwhelmingly in favour of him going for a back three.”
Edwards added about the result: “It is nice to take something. I do feel it is the least we deserve.”
When Amorim spoke after the draw, he confirmed that he changed his tactics at half-time and removed Joshua Zirkzee because United were ‘struggling’ with Wolves in midfield.
Asked about bringing Zirkzee off, Amorim said: “We were running around trying to get hold of the ball. We were struggling with their midfielders, and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers.
“We played with three strikers and sometimes that’s not the best thing to attack well. This game is over, you can not change the result of this one but you can move on and go to the next one.”
