Jamie Carragher reveals the 'weakness' in Ruben Amorim's tactical approach at Man United after new boss was held to a draw against Ipswich on debut

Jamie Carragher has revealed what he believes to be are the ‘weaknesses’ of Ruben Amorim’s tactical set-up at Manchester United.

Amorim got his first taste of English football on Sunday away to Ipswich Town, where a new-look United in a 3-4-3 system were held to a 1-1 draw.

Marcus Rashford’s early opening strike inside two minutes gave Amorim the perfect start to his reign, only for Ipswich to force themselves back into proceedings with Omari Hutchinson scoring a stunning long-range effort before half-time.

During Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show, Carragher took the opportunity to dissect Amorim’s tactical set-up and revealed what he believes is their downfall.

He said: ‘I hear a lot of managers including Reuben Amorim saying systems don’t matter too much. I believe that they do, no matter how many times managers tell me they don’t because, well why do you play a different system? Different systems give you different things in different areas.

‘For me, the weaknesses are in these spaces here, either side of the two central midfield players. The reason why is, when you play a conventional back four, your wide man can tuck in and help.

Jamie Carragher has since offered his opinion on United’s tactical set-up under Amorim

‘But because you play a back three, when they get the ball they naturally go wider and wing backs go wider and higher. It means there’s a lot more space around these two central midfield players, especially if the two attacking 10s don’t drop back. There were the same issues on the Ipswich side as well.

‘The big problem is – is it a midfielder who should drop in to fill that space or should a centre-back step in with someone?

‘We listened to Ruben Amorim after the game and he spoke a lot about Jonny Evans not making that jump into the space to pick up a man. Because they played the same system, it almost became a man-to-man game. Football has become that.’

Shared spoils helped United climb to 12th in the league standings and while it was a mixed showing, Amorim’s preferred 3-4-3 system did get some joy against Ipswich.

The attacking formation is new for United’s stars and will take time to adjust to – as Amorim admitted – with the former Sporting Lisbon boss only afforded a couple of days training to work with his squad before his first game in charge.

Amorim praised his players for trying to understand his vision after such a short period of time together.

Speaking after the match, Amorim said: ‘Bruno Fernandes, I think he improved his game by playing nearer the ball, feeling the ball, so he can give us sometimes the long pass.

‘But you can not put him there all the time because he wants the long pass all the time. So we try to find things about the players, we will need a lot of time to work out these things.

The Red Devils started well against Ipswich after scoring early but quickly began to fade

‘Sometimes people talk about the 3-4-3, that is not the concern, the system is the system but the understanding of the game is what we have to improve a lot in this area.’

Meanwhile, Diogo Dalot hailed the immediate impact of ‘big personality’ Amorimclaiming the new boss is exactly what Manchester United need to get back on top.

‘It’s gone really well,’ Dalot said. ‘He made an impact straight away, in terms of his philosophy and the way he wants us to play.

‘It suits the standards of the club. High intensity football and working hard for the team. We just need to put it into practice now.’