Ruben Amorim takes charge of his first game at home in match five of the Europa League as United welcome Norwegian outfit Bodo/Glimt to Old Trafford.
There is still a lot of excitement around Amorim as he just joined the club but after a flat debut at Ipswich, some of that excitement died down and reality came to the fore.
Hopefully MUFC can find some of that excitement and put on a show in front of a packed house at the Theatre of Dreams.
Can Amorim get that opening win?
Predicted Lineup
I have made a few changes and Amorim himself hinted that we should be seeing some rotation.
He said that Yoro is back in training but only for fitness. That suggest he won't play but isn't conclusive on whether the Frenchman will make his debut for United or not. With that thought though, I've put Mazraoui back in that right centre-back position.
A man who is available is the butcher as Martinez is ready to play says the boss. He comes straight back in at left centre-back.
I've taken both Casemiro and Eriksen out of midfield to drop in Ugarte and Mainoo. I don't think we'll be seeing much more of that duo under Amorim. Ugarte and Mainoo are the future imo.
Out wide, I've kept Amad on the right as he absolutely deserves to start again. On the left was the only area where I was having trouble but Garnacho is the player I've selected. I think Amorim may want to trial him as a wing-back as he is too important to our team to not play.
Bruno will start as one of the CAMs but I've chosen Mount alongside him. We don't actually know how good Mount can be for United but under a new manager, there is always a chance should he remain fit, which is his only downfall at the club so far.
Hojlund comes in as the traditional striker over Rashford. Amorim said that MR10 playing as a striker isn't his best position and I think the manager does prefer a proper number 9 up front as opposed to someone who can do a job.
Approach
With it being Amorim's first home game and the fact that we were a bit flat in his first match, I do expect a livelier United.
We've been seeing boring football for so long and Amorim won't want to be another boring manager. He would want the team to be a lot more entertaining and see something of what we saw at Sporting.
As we are at home, United will have to take the initiative and be more attacking. Against Ipswich we only had 4 shots on target. Amorim will want to address that not just because of how few shots on target we had in his opening match but because we've been poor in front of goal all season. He said that it is a 'concern' how poor United have been when it comes to scoring.
His Sporting team played with a lot of fluidity going forward and played as a team. Those are two things we cannot say about us as we are anything but fluid (going forward or otherwise) and we definitely don't play like a team often enough.
The wide players in particular are very selfish and that is where a lot of Sporting's attacks came from. They liked to put the ball in the box, something else that United don't do near enough nor is the quality of delivery that good when we do cross it.
Those wing-backs also work tirelessly going up and down the pitch all game which isn't something that our wingers like to do. Both Garnacho and Rashford don't work particularly hard and are inconsistent. Antony works hard but isn't good at much else. Only Amad suits exactly what's needed out wide.
If Amorim cannot get those wide players going, we will have a problem.
The midfield was also an issue at Ipswich as not only did Casemiro and Eriksen not have a great hold of what Amorim wanted, they were also too slow to cover the ground. They also didn't affect the game much in attack.
In Ugarte, we have a player who knows what the manager wants and is very comfortable with covering a lot of ground and can do it relatively quickly as well. He could give someone like Mainoo a little more freedom to strut his stuff going forward. The two of them also have more of a balance compared to Casemiro and Eriksen.
Midfield is where the game will be won or lost.
Form
MUFC are 15th in the Europa League with one win and three draws. Our 6 points mean we are 3 behind 8th placed Steaua București in that final qualification spot for the round of 16.
That solitary victory did come in our last game as we beat PAOK 2-0 under Ruud van Nistelrooy. In form Amad got both goals in a man of the match performance.
Bodo/Glimt
The Norwegian champions (and champions of three of the last four seasons) are a side that have a lot of praise from many people.
They sit 12th in the Europa League with two wins, one draw and one loss having scored 6 and conceded 5 giving them a total of 7 points.
However, that one loss did come in their last game which was a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Qarabag. A little bit of a surprise result especially after Bodo secured a comeback win over Porto on opening day. Their other victory came over Braga, a club once coached by a certain Ruben Amorim.
They are a side that I believe will cause us a lot of problems. We will have to be careful because they are no mugs and are more than capable of giving us a game.
Prediction
I think this is going to be a tougher game than we expect. I think the Norwegians will cause us a few problems. In the end though, I believe we will have enough to get over the line.
2-0 is the score line I'm going for as Ruben Amorim will get off the mark at Old Trafford.
What do you think will happen in the new manager's first home game?
Background Image: Andre Onana | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)