Football News: It's Not About The Manchester United Formation

I don't know how many times I'll have to say it, but here goes again - IT'S NOT THE FORMATION. Do not fall for the simple minded media narrative aimed at simple minded people.

They say 3-4-3 doesn't work in the English Premier League. Who says so? Crystal Palace have collected the 3rd most points since Oliver Glasner took over and exclusively used a 3-4-2-1 shape. Everyone praised Brighton under Graham Potter for his ability to get Brighton punching above their weight, often using a 3-4-3 formation.

Yes, Manchester United struggled yesterday against Fulham, who normally play with a 4-2-3-1 shape but yesterday had Castagne and Sessegnon playing as wingbacks with a back three of Tete, Anderson and Bassey. Marco Silva literally changed how his team lineup, matching our shape to try and counter us.

Anyone who has read into Johan Cruyff and Dutch total football will instantly understand the ideology behind the 3-4-3 shape and the superior team shape and balance it provides. The problem has always been finding players with the right characteristics to fully implement it as the vast majority of players are brought up and indoctrinated in 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formations and roles within a team.

So much so that everyone would give an almost identical answer if asked what the role of a fullback was, or a winger, or a CB. We consider anything that varies from that narrative as odd or strange, making us naturally suspicious and untrusting of it.

People complaining that it has too many defenders, well we lined up with four defenders, Yoro, MdL, Dorgu and Shaw, two natural CBs and two natural fullbacks. Just like if we played 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1.

Formations are just a rough starting position to help players understand their role in the team. All professional managers / coaches will use multiple 'formations' during a game. Their team will have a formation for when they have the ball, and a different one for when they don't. They might have various ones for when they have the ball depending on what the game state is. One for trying to get a goal and another for trying to keep possession and slow the game down, they might even have one for when they need to nail down the hatches and shut up shop.

Literally 3, 4 or 5 different team shapes / formations to use during every single game. The simplistic one shown on TV at the start of a game is literally just to give the fans a rough idea of who will be playing in which areas of the pitch within reason. Although even that is often wrong as the managers literally only provide a team sheet, which is a list of names, it is the pundits / analysts who decide what 'formation' they display the team as playing.

For example, yesterday they showed Fulham before the game as playing a 4-2-3-1 with Tete as a RB (his usual position) and Castagne as a RW (when he's usually a RB). Yet anyone watching the game will have realised that Tete was tucking in to form a back three with Anderson and Bassey, with Castagne and Sessegnon playing as wingbacks. Highlighting how inaccurate these infographics made up by TV companies are in reality.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Ruben Amorim's team shape and tactics, the problem is the personnel and their inability to implement those ideas effectively. For us the issue now is the midfield balance. It's awful and we don't have the right mix of players to form a balanced midfield. Especially when trying to crowbar Bruno Fernandes into a deep midfield position.

Written by Shappy August 25 2025 10:45:24