Jamie Carragher expertly breaks down the two problem players Ruben Amorim has in his Man Utd system

Jamie Carragher has expertly broken down the two problem players Ruben Amorim has in his system at Manchester United.

Amorim is renowned for playing with a back three and wing backs and immediately installed the formation after leaving Sporting CP to replace Erik ten Hag.

But while it worked wonders at Sporting and helped the Lisbon outfit win two Primeira Liga titles, United stars have struggled to adapt to the new approach and have lost five of their last seven games.

Amorim has tinkered with his players but looks to have settled on Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui as his wing-backs.

They were again selected against Newcastle but on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, Carragher explained how the pair are struggling to understand the role of being a wing-back as opposed to a traditional full-back.

Analysing footage from the win over Manchester City, he stated that the duo "don't think like attacking players" and are "haven't got the ability to beat people one vs one" when transitions happen and they need to go forward.

Looking at the lack of urgency to get high up the pitch, Carragher added: "That's the problem with these two playing at wing-back and the problem we'll see tonight."

"It's a massive problem... he's not thinking like a full-back!"

Jamie Carragher analyses how Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui are struggling in Ruben Amorim's back five 🔎 pic.twitter.com/YxKO1ALSeb

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 30, 2024

Amad Diallo, who scored the winner against City, has played as a wing-back and excelled in knowing when to "jump" at turnovers - but the Ivorian has featured on the right of the front three of late.

Carragher urges Amorim to stick to his guns

Though United haven't improved under Amorim and it's accepted that he needs time to implement his methods, Carragher believes Amorim is right to be stubborn and stick to his principles.

"The manager has said he's not for changing his system and I think he is right to do that, not to sort of adapt," Carragher stated.

"He's been brought in for a reason, to play that system and to provide at United what he provided in Lisbon with Sporting and the success they had.

"I think it would be wrong to change, but that means I think he may have to go through a little bit more pain."