How Ruben Amorim’s chess move with De Ligt outsmarted Enzo Maresca to hand Man Utd win over Chelsea

RUBEN AMORIM eased the pressure on his back with a crucial 2-1 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Goals from Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro managed to get Manchester United over the line after a nervy end against the Blues following a late goal from Trevoh Chalobah.

It meant Amorim had picked up back-to-back wins at home for the first time in his tenure. But how did he do it?

Fortunately, SunSport’s Tactical Guru Dean Scoggins is on hand to break down how the 3-4-3 finally came into its own against the world champions.

Ctrl-Alt-De Ligt

Matthijs de Ligt is a star with undoubted quality, and this season he has really shown his class after a stop-start first season for United.

Against Chelsea, De Ligt was seen moving a lot into midfield from the right centre-back position, helping to create an overload in the middle.

Even in the first few minutes before the Robert Sanchez red card, De Ligt was seen moving into midfield on a number of occasions to engage with the box midfield favoured by Enzo Maresca.

In possession this helped create a line of three with Fernandes and Casemiro, and the number of touches he had in the Chelsea half before Casemiro was sent off made the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella go backwards.

In terms of understanding the system, De Ligt can be used as an example of how the right implementation of the system can be very effective.

Against City, United lacked bravery, but against Chelsea it was a night and day difference.

Bryan mighty

Roughly two minutes into the game, Bryan Mbeumo had made an in-to-out-run which completely had the beating of Cucurella.

On that occasion, Fernandes was unable to find the pass, but that run proved to be game-defining as a couple of minutes later the same run ended up in the red card.

It was baffling to see Moises Caicedo make the covering run for Cucurella.

But the those runs are a really good sign for United, and even better for using Benjamin Sesko as the man to get a flick on before it.

Nouss loose

The wing-backs were key to getting the win over Chelsea.

Patrick Dorgu hasn’t set the house on fire and has been dependable, but there were a few occasions against Chelsea where some more quality was needed in the final third.

But Noussair Mazraoui has been really impressive for United, no matter where he plays.

Against Chelsea it was at wing-back, and it made Mbeumo look a lot more comfortable with their crossover runs giving the Blues defence an absolute nightmare to pick up.

Bruno’s helper

Amad Diallo has cast a frustrating figure for United fans this season, with many fans thinking there is plenty more to come from him.

But against Chelsea, he was played as a left-winger, and weirdly almost along the same line as captain Fernandes.

And it turned out to be another good sign as it created a triangle in midfield with Amad dropping into the midfield.

As soon as the ball switched, Amad was then able to motor back towards the Chelsea defence which caused a lot of problems for whatever defender had to follow him.

While there was something left to be desired from an overall quality standpoint, tactically it was a superb display from the Ivorian.

Combined with the positioning of Luke Shaw as well, it made for the perfect balance around Fernandes.

Harry carry

Our final point comes down to the anchor of the United defence against Chelsea, Harry Maguire.

He was extremely aggressive against Chelsea and Joao Pedro would have woken up with some bruises from the challengers the England defender was stepping in with.

It was a great game plan alongside Shaw and De Ligt as whenever one went to snap the ball ahead of them, the other two covered behind.

Even playing out, there was a lot of pressure on Maguire.

Maguire took responsibility on the ball with Pedro willing to let him have the ball by finding Mazraoui or Fernandes and carrying the ball up the field.

There is debate over whether he should be handed a new contract as he enters the final season of his deal, but he is certainly not the big problem at United.