Game three under Amorim is fast on the horizon. His second home game sees gravel voice Sean Dyche and Everton travel to Old Trafford in match 13 of the Premier League.
After his draw in his first league game at Ipswich, the Portuguese will look to get his side back on track in domestic competition. United need a win as when looking at them in the table, it ain't looking good brev.
Let's see how the team does after a quick turnaround from Thursday night's win which should've given the team more confidence heading into this one.
Predicted Lineup
The manager said that we should expect more rotation. After his starting XI and substitutions on Thursday, I think that I've got a good idea of who he will select for Everton.
The defence is pretty good with Onana, Mazraoui (what a player. What were Bayern thinking?), De Ligt and Martinez. Amorim also substituted both De Ligt and Martinez which indicates that they're likely to start tomorrow.
I've brought Mainoo into midfield as I think it's about time he gets a run in in the side. He's been nursing an injury for the past month but having been part of the matchday squad for the last two games, he should be fit and ready to play.
Amad should return to the lineup after his top performances and while Garnacho is the player I've gone for on the left, that is an area where I'm not entirely sure what the manager will do. It is a spot that is still there for the taking as we've seen several players tryout for that position with none of them really taking their chances.
With Mainoo back at number 8, it will mean captain magnifico Bruno will move further forward into his preferred number 10 role. His partner is Mount whom I thought had a good game on Thursday night. He too was substituted on the hour which could mean he starts tomorrow.
Hojlund keeps his place up top but after having played the full 90 against Bodo/Glimt, we could see Rashford return as number 9 or perhaps even Zirkzee given a run out as the centre-forward.
Approach
It's going to be difficult given the short rest period in between. Amorim's rotated lineup on Thursday means that some of these players should be relatively fresh. He also mentioned before the Bodo/Glimt game that those who won't feature in that game have the opportunity to train.
So with that in mind, not all of these players should struggle with fatigue.
This means that we should see a lively performance from the team. We need to see a fast start because we know that with United, we have the tendency to start really slowly. However, in the last two games, that has improved as we scored in 81 seconds at Ipswich and in 52 seconds against Bodo/Glimt. Hopefully that trend continues against the Toffees as fast starts have been a problem across the season in general.
The difference with Thursday's fast start compared to last Sunday's is that we continued the momentum after scoring. At Ipswich, we went on to play quite a boring game without any real penetration or purpose.
It is still relatively early on into Amorim's time at the club but I do think in game three, we should start to see a lot more from the players in terms of getting used to the manager's tactics.
I think Amorim will be looking for more of what he saw on Thursday as well. His side had a purposeful control to the game rather than what occurred at Portman Road. That was a game where United had a lot of the ball but never really looked like they knew what to do with it.
Against Bodo/Glimt, we didn't panic too much and kept rotating the ball whenever necessary. Even when we went behind, United just seemed to gather themselves and go about trying to get back to level terms. That isn't something we see as more often than not, we tend to lose our heads and the opposition takes advantage of it. That is an improvement.
Defensively the team was shaky but that is to be expected as the players are still getting used to the new system. However, I don't think we'll be seeing Tyrell Malacia at left wing-back after he was burned for pace for the Norwegian's second goal. That high line may be something that Sean Dyche could look to exploit whenever Everton look to counter.
Ruben Amorim also said that he wants his side to have more of the ball due to a short recovery period as this will ensure that United don't have to run as much.
One issue that he will be concerned about is his side wastefulness in attack. That was already a problem before he joined the club as United have missed 27 big chances, the third most in the league. We've also only scored 13 in the league. That is pathetic.
However, despite this lack of a cutting edge, having seen his side create a whole host of opportunities (20 shots at goal) on Thursday, Ruben Amorim will be happy that those opportunities were there in the first place as compared to his first game at Ipswich, United had just the 4 shots at goal.
We also saw that should we create these opportunities for Hojlund, he will put them away. The Dane only had two real chances at goal and took them both. He is very clinical. We just need to be creating such chances (especially his second goal) more often.
Form
Despite the disappointing draw, United moved one spot up to 12th in the table thanks to Bournemouth's 2-1 loss to Brighton.
We are perfectly balanced after 12 matches as we've won four, drawn four and lost four having scored 13 and conceded 13. See, perfectly balanced.
Our total of 16 points means we are now 6 points behind the top 4 due to that draw last week.
Those 13 goals we've scored is only worsened by Southampton (9), Palace (10) and tomorrow's opponents Everton who also have 10. Amorim knows that this is a major problem for United as it's this inability to score that has seen us drop so many unnecessary points and languish in 12th.
However, the good news is that defensively, we are one of the more solid teams as only Arsenal (12) and Liverpool (8) have let in fewer goals than us although Spurs, Forest and Newcastle have also conceded 13.
Andre Onana still tops the clean sheets charts with 5. He missed out on another last week despite a man of the match performance. He has been superb this season.
At home, United are 10th in the home table with three wins, one draw and two losses which were the 3-0 defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Spurs.
Those goal scoring troubles means that we have a negative GD (-1) at Old Trafford with 7 scored and 8 conceded. We are happier on the road in this aspect it seems.
Everton
As for Dyche and co, they have endured a pretty shite season tbh.
Everton are 15th after their 12 matches and have just the two wins along with five draws and five defeats. Only Ipswich have more draws than them with Everton's five losses being amongst the most in the league.
They have a total 11 points leaving them just 2 above the drop zone. As mentioned, their 10 scored is only worsened by Southampton meaning that in front of goal, they have more problems than us. 17 conceded is also not something we usually see with a Sean Dyche side as more often than not, his teams are a lot more solid defensively.
A lot of those 17 were conceded in the first four games. Brighton won 3-0 on the opening day, Spurs thumped them 4-0, Bournemouth had that incredible 3-2 comeback win at Goodison late on and Villa also scored 3 in The Toffees' following game in another 3-2 loss for Dyche.
That is 13 goals conceded in four games. Not good at all 👎. But that means in the following 8 matches, they've only conceded 4 and kept four clean sheets in that time. That is good 👍.
This also means that Jordan Pickford has four clean sheets and is one behind Onana at the top of that list.
Their last two matches have been 0-0 draws at West Ham and Brentford despite the Bees having to play with 10 men for the second half.
Dyche's team will have the advantage of having a complete week off between games. They have no mid-week duties whereas United played on Thursday night against Bodo/Glimt.
That could make a difference.
On the road, Everton are also 15th with just the one win on their travels which came at Ipswich in match 8. But they've also drawn two and lost three away from home with a -4 goal difference.
Recent Meetings
United dominate the recent record having won four of the last four league games and five of five in all competitions.
The last Everton win was a 1-0 triumph in April 2022 after an Anthony Gordon goal gave Frank Lampard's team the 3 points over Ralf Rangnick's United. That takes you back.
The last time the Toffees won at Old Trafford was all the way back in 2013 as a late goal by Bryan Oviedo gave them the victory over David Moyes' Man Utd. That takes you back even further.
Prediction
2-0. I know I've been going for 2-0 in all of Amorim's games but I feel like that is a safe score line to go with. The two teams don't score too many but with a new manager and it being his first home game in the league, and following his first win on Thursday, I think we will have enough to get the job done.
Everton also concede a few and struggled at Old Trafford over the years. We should be getting the win.
Background Image: Amad | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)