What is Ruben Amorim’s new Manchester United formation and how did it work?

Ruben Amorim appeared to deviate from his trusted 3-4-3 for the first time as Manchester United manager as he experimented with a new-look system for the Premier League match against Bournemouth.

Amorim said before the game that United will need to “adapt” when Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui depart for the Africa Cup of Nations and notably said that his team “need to learn from some mistakes we did in the past”.

Critics of the Portuguese head coach have said he has stayed too attached to his 3-4-3 system since replacing Erik ten Hag last November. It was the system he used to great success at his previous club Sporting Lisbon and his arrival brought an immediate shift at Old Trafford.

Amorim joked in September that not even the Pope could persuade him to change his formation. "This is my job. This is my responsibility. This is my life. So, I will not change that,” he said.

What was different against Bournemouth?

On paper, not much. When the team sheets dropped it looked as if Amorim had named a back three of Leny Yoro, Ayden Heaven and Luke Shaw, with Amad Diallo and Diogo Dalot as the usual wing-backs.

Manchester United XI: Lammens; Yoro, Heaven, Shaw; Amad, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dalot; Mbeumo, Mount, Cunha

But when the match kicked off, United’s style appeared to be different on the ball. Yoro played as a more traditional right back, with Shaw tucking in to join Heaven and Dalot positioned on the left.

Diallo was allowed to push further forward and join Mason Mount, Matheus Cunha and Bruno Fernandes in supporting Bryan Mbeumo. Casemiro was notably the sitting midfielder.

It created something of a 4-1-3-2 formation with Mbeumo and Cunha as the strikers, Amad on the right, Mount on the left and Fernandes at No 10.

Manchester United XI: Lammens; Yoro, Heaven, Shaw, Dalot; Casemiro, Fernandes; Amad, Mount; Mbeumo, Cunha

How did it look?

Manchester United had 17 shots in the first half, the most of any side in the Premier League so far this season, as well as an xG of 2.62.

Overall, there appeared to be more danger and threat to United’s play. And although Bournemouth enjoyed a decent spell late in the first half, where Antoine Semenyo equaliser, there was better balance in Amorim’s team too.

The hosts were able to sustain attacks and looked rampant at times. In the new-look attack, Amad, Mbeumo, Cunha, Fernandes and Mount dovetailed and linked up wonderfully.

Amad scored the opener and his advanced position allowed him to get on the end of Dalot’s cross after Cunha missed the first contact.

The second goal came from a set-piece, with Casemiro’s header, but you can’t say United didn’t deserve to be ahead.

What did Amorim say before kick-off?

“It's always the same thing. The formation is not the most important thing, it's the way you set up the team and try to take advantage of your opponent.

"We have to think about the future, and we need to have more variability in our game. We're going to lose two wingers, so we need to adapt to the players we have.

“We need to learn from some mistakes we did in the past, so we will try just to improve the team.”