On the night Ruben Amorim delivered the surprise of the season by jettisoning his beloved 3-4-3 formation, Manchester United contrived to put part of his new shape in the scoreline. A 4-4 was not a tribute to Amorim’s unexpected switch to 4-4-2 as much as the consequence of an extraordinary evening of frenzied attacking, poor defending and flawed goalkeeping as two sides traded free kicks and comebacks.
“Crazy game,” said Amorim. “It was fun for everyone at home.” Entertaining mayhem at their home could come at a cost to United. Ahead 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3, they missed the chance to go fifth and extended an undistinguished run on their own turf. Ten-man Everton won at Old Trafford, relegation-threatened West Ham drew and so, in ludicrous fashion, did out-of-form, goal-shy Bournemouth. What could have been nine points at Old Trafford is instead just two.
And yet to concentrate on the wider ramifications would be to overlook the eight goals that came amidst the bemusing, confusing drama. It may have been fitting that the last of them came from Bournemouth, Eli Junior Kroupi coming off the bench to procure Andoni Iraola’s side a point. It still required two saves from Senne Lammens to stop David Brooks turning that into 5-4 triumph for Bournemouth.
Even so, it was the first time United scored four goals in a league game without taking three points since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final match, a 5-5 draw with West Bromwich Albion.
“Today was inspiring but there is also the feeling of frustration from not winning,” said Amorim. His change of shape aided United in attack but malfunctioned defensively. There was an illogical look to a back four with two left-footers in the middle and a centre-back at right-back. There were personnel issues, with Ayden Heaven struggling. United lost three leads. “We are lacking in quality when we defend our goal,” said Amorim. “We need to close the game.” Instead, it was ludicrously open.
“People enjoy more to see Manchester United this season,” said Amorim. And, indeed, when playing 4-4-2. While they had also scored four at Wolves, they looked liberated, freed from Amorim’s tactical straitjacket. Energetic and attacking, they had 11 shots in the first 25 minutes alone, 25 in total, an xG of 3.27. They got more players forward; indeed Amad Diallo, not a natural wing-back, was given a more advanced role in a lopsided 4-4-2 and that felt a reason why he could open the scoring from a yard.
Yet for much of the evening, it seemed a case of chaos rather than structure. Bruno Fernandes has long had a galvanising influence but can alter games with force of personality. He provided United’s second goal – a seventh assist of the Premier League campaign giving him more than anyone else in the division – and scored the third with a wonderful free kick, his own third goal in eight days.
Amorim may taken particular pleasure from United’s fourth goal: a combination of two of his summer signings with Benjamin Sesko, making his comeback after injury, setting up Matheus Cunha to score just his second goal since his £62.5m arrival.
United received a helping hand from Djordje Petrovic, who was culpable for their first two goals. He parried Cunha’s header to Amad to finish and then allowed Casemiro’s effort to slip through his hands.
Nevertheless, their attacking endeavours offered vindication for Amorim’s formation change. It felt an admission he had been wrong for 13 months. It looked that United were being hindered by dogma. Yet, unpractised in a shape previous managers preferred, they could not defend.
After bringing a back four, they conceded four. Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson arrived in the midst of goal droughts. By the time the former struck, Bournemouth had gone 294 minutes without a goal. Two players and the team all ended their waits.
Much of the credit should go to Andoni Iraola. There were two tactical rethinks: one by Amorim before kick-off, one by Iraola after it. The Portuguese had put Leny Yoro in a contest with Semenyo, so Iraola swapped him to the opposite flank. It was as a right winger that he levelled, surging clear to drive in a shot.
But United led at half-time and, when they do in a league game at Old Trafford, they have not lost since 1984; or, in other words, in Amorim’s lifetime. Nine awful minutes put that record under threat. Thirty seconds after the interval and played onside by Heaven, Evanilson latched on to Justin Kluivert’s pass to score a first goal in 11 games. “We need to start the second half in a different way,” said Amorim.
It got worse as Marcus Tavernier curled in a low free kick, conceded by Casemiro with a desperate foul on the eventual scorer. Lammens was also culpable as he probably should have saved it.
So Bournemouth became the first side in top-flight history to score at least three goals in three consecutive trips to Old Trafford. They had only struck five times here in their history before getting 10 in three visits. “Man United, it’s happened again,” chorused the visiting fans after Tavernier struck. “It had everything,” reflected Iraola. “Moments where you think it’s a loss. Moments where you think we have this one.”
Unlike in the last two seasons, Bournemouth did not win. This time, however, they got four goals, courtesy of Junior Kroupi. For United, a 4-4-2 brought a 4-4. The system, Amorim said, was “for you to discuss, not me”.
It had seemed the great certainties were death, taxes and his insistence on 3-4-3. Even the Pope, he had said, could not make him change that. Whether or not papal intervention is required, however, a newly flexible manager’s next task is to get United winning at Old Trafford again.
