Overall, building out from the back has been a promising part of United’s game in pre-season and where we have most clearly seen some of the principles Carrick has tried to instil in his squad.
Going back to Amorim’s United once more, when they did play out from the back, they would execute pre-planned passing routines.
Carrick’s United instead look to escape pressure through trios of players passing the ball between each other in a less choreographed manner.
Pre-season coaching has reinforced the players’ understanding around supporting team-mates to create clusters of threes.
Which three players converge differs throughout the game and the players are given a level of personal responsibility to interpret the match during it.
More specifically, a collective principle being taught to the players is to look to make third-man runs – often off the back of their marker – to receive the ball with time and space.
Once United have broken the opposition’s initial pressure in the described manner, they often find themselves in open space with pacy attackers ahead of them ready to attack in a more direct fashion.
The signings of technical, deep-lying midfielders aid these overarching concepts.
Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Mason Mount in particular have combined well to help United get up the pitch. This style of play suits the strengths of Kobbie Mainoo too, who returned to action with a cameo in Saturday’s 4-2 defeat by AC Milan.