Rangers seem to be a little further along the line in terms of a rebuild with Man Utd still struggling to come to terms with Ruben Amorim’s philosophy.
Where Philippe Clement’s biggest problem as manager of the Light Blues is obvious, the former Sporting Lisbon boss has several issues that he has to fix.
After another summer transfer window Rangers will be in a better position in terms of the state of the squad, however, Man Utd have more than an issue with the players at Amorim’s disposal.
Man Utd tactics questioned with Ruben Amorim questioned
Stubbornness can be a manager’s worst nightmare if they are hell bent on a system or style of play that just doesn’t work.
Clement found this in the early part of the season when he had Tom Lawrence and Cyriel Dessers in key attacking positions.
Replying to Micah Richards questioning Amorim’s tactics on The Rest is Football podcast, Gary Lineker agreed that there is a lot of work to be done:
“I said even after the two good performances against Liverpool and then Arsenal in the [FA] Cup, talking about them being a counter-attacking side that the test would come against the weaker teams because Manchester United can’t play counter-attacking football against teams at the other end of the table.
“We saw it, they were trailing against Southampton 1-0 until the very end and Diallo bailed them out with that late hat-trick and we saw it again today against Brighton.
“They can play the high press and they can counter themselves, which they’re very good at, so yeah, they’ve still got massive issues there.”
Will Amorim play into Clement’s hands at Old Trafford?
Philippe Clement is a pragmatist in that he has shown, within his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, he can tweak tactics depending on the opposition.
Rangers were unlucky not to win the two Old Firm cup finals and his record in the Europa League proves that he knows how to set a team up.
There have been away games against Malmo and Nice where Rangers went toe-to-toe, but against Tottenham Hotspur, they were more patient and alternated between containment and pressing.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a similar game plan to the one at Ibrox against Spurs which, as Lineker says, would avoid playing into Man Utd’s hands.
Can Rangers go one further this time?
