AMAZING Ruben Amorim Tactic
Once upon a time, there was a Portuguese man, born in Lisbon, who created a tactic that became unbeatable.
No, wait, I think I went a bit off script there. Well, there is at least one person for whom the tactic part is true.
But returning to our Portuguese man, he was born in Lisbon and grew up loving football. His two cousins are also professional football players.
As a footballer, Ruben Amorim played as a midfielder. He spent most of his professional career with Belenenses and Benfica, signing with the latter in 2008 and going on to win ten major titles, including three league titles, one Portuguese Cup, five League Cups and one Portuguese Super Cup.
He represented Portugal in two FIFA World Cups, earning a total of 14 caps. Amorim's style was like fellow countryman Tiago, with both playing the same position, operating in central midfield, both defensive and offensive, although he could also be played as a right-back or winger.
Shortly after retiring, Amorim joined the Lisbon Football Association to earn a coaching licence. Additionally, he attended a postgraduation course in psychomotor education and spent a week-long internship under Manchester United manager José Mourinho. If only he knew back then…
In May 2019, Amorim initially agreed to return to Benfica as their under-23 coach. But he would reject the possibility and would take a decision that would put him on the path he currently is on.
Sporting Braga, the Reserves team, needed a manager and in mid-September 2019, Ruben Amorim took over the third tier team, winning seven of his eight games, managing them.
Three months later, he replaced the dismissed Ricardo Sá Pinto at the helm of the first team on a two-and-a-half-year contract, with the Minhotos being eighth place in the league at the time of his appointment.
This appointment brought the best period in the club’s recent history. In his first game in charge on 4 January, he led them to a 7–1 away demolition of Beleneses SAD, and three weeks later won the domestic league cup final against Porto with a last-minute goal from Ricardo Horta, Braga's first trophy in four years.
In the Primeira Liga, on 15th of February, Amorim recorded Braga's first win away to Benfica in 65 years, with João Palhinha scoring the game's only goal.
He then moved on to become Sporting CP’s manager and this appointment changed this club’s recent history and Ruben Amorim’s managerial career forever.
He brought in a lot of new players, including the experienced goalkeeper Antonio Adan, Pedro Porro, Joao Palhinha or Pedro Goncalves among others.
In January 2021, Ruben Amorim won his second consecutive League Cup, against his former club Sporting Braga.
Following a national record of a 32-match unbeaten-streak, including on 11 May, a 1–0 home win against Boavista, he guided the club to their first league title triumph in 19 years. Sporting only had one loss during the season, being defeated by rivals Benfica 4–3 away in the Lisbon derby on 15 May.
In his second season at Sporting CP, he changed the squad a bit and started the season with a win in the Portuguese Super Cup, against Sporting Braga. Apparently, it became a theme.
After losing their first two Champions League group games, Sporting won their next three matches, culminating on 24 November when they defeated Borussia Dortmund 3–1 at home in the penultimate fixture to ensure the club's qualification to the round of 16, for the first time since the 2008–09 season.
In January 2022, Amorim won his third consecutive league cup final, in a 2–1 victory against Benfica.
Sporting were eliminated in the last 16 of the Champions League by Manchester City, 5–0 on aggregate, knocked out of the Portuguese Cup in the semi-finals by FC Porto, and finished the league season on 85 points as the year before, but six points behind aforementioned rival.
The following season, Sporting players attracted interest from Europe’s rich and top clubs, so Ruben Amori had to adjust the squad again.
In Europe, Sporting won in Germany for the first time in their history, beating Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt 3–0 in their first group stage match of the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League.
However, Sporting would finish the group in 3rd place, qualifying them in the Europa League knock-out rounds. Following a surprise victory over the favourites Arsenal, on penalties, after drawing 3–3 on aggregate in London. They were eliminated in the following round, after losing to Juventus 2–1 on aggregate at home.
Domestically, the team was eliminated from both the League and Cup competitions and in the league, following a 2–2 home draw with Benfica, despite leading 2–0 at half-time, Sporting missed out on Champions League qualification and qualified to the Europa League, after a 4th place finish in the league.
However, the following season, Ruben Amorim really dug deep into his managerial knowledge and pulled off what would be his second league title with Sporting and the club’s 20th.
It was during this season that Ruben Amorim began to be linked with managerial positions at Liverpool or West Ham.
But the change would come in the next season. The Portuguese manager moved to Manchester United, right after winning against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.
His start in Manchester wasn’t a very good one, with mixed results. However, his team still managed to win against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, so that’s a plus.
On the tactical front, Ruben Amorim considers Jorge Jesus as his teacher, mentor, and one of his main influences. Amorim played under Jesus for close to a decade at Belenenses, Braga and Benfica. He also considers José Mourinho as one of his biggest mentors and has displayed an admiration for Pep Guardiola.
During his tenure with Sporting CP beginning in March 2020, Amorim primarily played a 3–4–3, a system he adopted during his tenure at Casa Pia and Braga, with two midfielders, usually João Palhinha and Matheus Nunes being responsible for protecting the defense and emphasize the attacking capabilities of the wing-backs, like Pedro Porro and Nuno Mendes at first, and later Geny Catamo.
When defending in a low block, Sporting’s players stay behind the line of the box in order to keep a compact shape, prevent any potential shots from the edge of the box, and limit attacking opportunities. Amorim's team utilizes an intense pressing style and attempts to win the ball back in the final third.
Amorim's team use interchanging movements to distract the opposing defenders and create space for the attackers to exploit.
The number 9, firstly Paulinho and then Viktor Gyökeres tend to act in terms of pressing the ball and slowing the progression of the opposition, looking to create a space in the defensive line of the opposition that can be quickly attacked, in order to allow the man in possession initially to look for a vertical passing option.
Amorim has also used a 3–4–3 diamond formation with three mobile defenders; plus one more covering space – becoming, in effect, a defensive midfielder, two "controlling" midfielders with responsibilities to feed the attack-minded players, one second striker, two touchline-hugging wingers and one versatile striker.
In my building a nation save, with FC Valletta, I set up the formation like this, adapting to the players available to me in this first season at the club.
However, as you can see, the positions and roles are interchangeable, so as long as you follow the main principles of the tactic, the rest will fall into place.
I used a sweeper keeper on attack duty, to cover for the movement of the center-backs. The 3 center-backs are one wide center-back on defend duty and two ball playing defenders on defend,
The left-sided defender is asked to stay wider, mainly to stretch the defensive line and cover for the wing back who is asked to go up the pitch.
The midfield four are two wing backs – one on support duty and one on attack. A defensive midfielder on support duty and a Segundo volante on attack.
Stay wider as player instruction for the right-sided wing-back and stay wider, take more risks and cross more often for the left-sided one.
The defensive midfielder is told to dribble less and the Segundo volante the same. These two players have roles that start deeper on the pitch, closer to their defensive line, but as the ball is progressed they will go up, creating overloads in the midfield areas and attracting opposition pressure onto them.
Essentially, liberating the wide players as much as possible.
I went with two inside forwards – one on support on the right side and one attack on the other. But you could also use two attacking midfielder roles and focus play more through the middle. Something that Ruben Amorim tries to do at Manchester United, playing more in the final third half spaces rather than directly on the wings.
More direct passes and mark tighter as player instructions.
And the striker is an advanced forward. I used this role as in my opinion, it’s the most incisive one in this edition of Football Manager.
Mark tighter as player instruction for him.
As mentality I went with positive.
In possession, the attacking width is narrow, to help the intricate passes we want to use in this tactic. Pass into space and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and a slightly higher tempo.
Work the ball into the box and play for set pieces.
As mentioned, the instructions here aim to help the intricate and fast passing game, favouring one-two touches.
In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence, though short kicks.
And out of possession, a high press and a standard defensive line. Trigger press more often, step up more, trap outside and invite crosses.
The defensive setup is made like this to try and stop opposition build up high up the pitch. But if that fails, the team is to retreat into their defensive positions and create a compact formation, allowing for space to be exploited on the wings, but keeping the central areas as closed and narrow as possible.
Using this tactic, we dominated the Maltese Premier League, but we were knocked-out of the Maltese Cup in the semi-finals.
I think Ruben Amorim’s approach on football tactics is a new and refreshing one, that could be implemented at any club, provided that the players used are suitable for it.
Of course, it takes time to adjust to this style of play, but when done correctly, it can bring great results.
We are lucky, in a way, that we can observe Ruben Amorim trying to recreate Manchester United using his tactical philosophy and I hope he succeeds.
