Why did Manchester United’s performance against Brighton anger Ruben Amorim?

Much about Manchester United feels broken right now. The latest addition is a television.

Seam Athletics revealed on Tuesday that United manager Ruben Amorim damaged a screen in their dressing room following Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. The news comes after Amorim called his side “perhaps the worst” United team in history in the press conference following their seventh defeat in his 15 games.

During that press conference, Amorim expressed his displeasure with the lack of positional discipline in United’s play in the closing stages.

“Helping my players is giving them the tools to play this way, but without training it’s really difficult. You can feel it at the end of the game – everyone changed positions and it’s something I don’t want to see again .We can lose, but we have to maintain the position, he said.

Athletics re-watched the decisive period after Georginio Rutter’s 76th-minute strike put Brighton 3-1 up to try to understand what Amorim meant.

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A distinct feature of United’s play in the final 22 minutes (including eight minutes of stoppage time) was their anxiety to win the ball high up the pitch.

This is natural for a team chasing the game in front of their home crowd, but there was a frenzy in United’s play that they did not show, for example against Nottingham Forest, when they trailed 3-2 in the last 10 minutes at Old Trafford.

The positional indiscipline Amorim lamented only became apparent in the 89th minute.

As a throw-in to the left is worked back, Alejandro Garnacho runs forward in a central area – the kind of off-the-ball run we haven’t seen from Amorim’s no. 10s as he prefers them to operate in the halves on either side behind the centre-forward.

Garnacho’s movement takes him into false nine territory and doesn’t seem rehearsed. United reorganize themselves after being forced back, but the ball eventually finds its way to Garnacho and he blasts over from close range to the right.

Another example came in the second minute of stoppage time. Rasmus Højlund misjudges a long ball forward and lets it run off his back.

While Brighton pass the ball back to goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, United press with their forwards and wing-backs. Diogo Dalot, instead of being in his natural position on the left, is down the middle.

Brighton win the second ball and have the numerical superiority to control possession as Dalot jogs back into position.

Just over a minute later, there is a clear moment of frustration on the field (at least for those watching from home).

As United sent men forward with Andre Onana in possession, Amorim can be seen gesturing towards the pitch, although it was unclear who.

Onana kicks far towards the right wing, and as the ball floats in the air, Bruno Fernandes can be seen throwing up his hands.

Amad wins the first ball, but Brighton clear it out for a throw-in. When the ball runs out, Fernandes turns to Onana and angrily gestures that he should have passed to the left, where Garnacho, Dalot and Hojlund are. Fernandes also turns to the bench.

The fifth minute of stoppage time provided another hint as to what Amorim may have been referring to.

Under his system, one of the centre-backs is allowed to move forward both in and out of possession to advance the ball or close the opposition forward. One of the wing-backs falls in with the other two centre-backs to ensure the team has numbers in defence.

In this case, Leny pushes Yoro up to close down Julio Enciso and intercepts the pass into the Paraguayan. At the same time, Amad, on the other side of the pitch, runs back to ensure that United are not outnumbered, with Harry Maguire already lagging behind.

The odd one out is Matthijs de Ligt, whose body shape in the snap above suggests he doesn’t know whether to push up or track back. He pulls back, but not completely, and mistimes his tackle on Rutter after rushing forward.

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The final instance of United’s positional inconsistency came in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

After Antony wins a free-kick in the defensive half, Fernandes drops to right centre-back and encourages De Ligt to move forward. This starts as the classic trick of pushing a centre-back up the pitch to create a threat in the box.

But United lack clarity and De Ligt finds himself in no man’s land as the move progresses.

When United hit the ball wide to Amad, Hojlund is their only goal in a goal area. He is surrounded by four defenders with limited room to manoeuvre, while De Ligt cannot really affect the game from his position.

Amad passes the ball back to Fernandes, whose cross is blocked, allowing Brighton to break. Fortunately for United, Toby Collyer and Maguire work together to get the ball back to Onana.

This time De Ligt stays back while Maguire advances.

However, Maguire’s positioning does not contribute to United progressing. He blocks a pass on the right where Amad holds the width.

Meanwhile, United’s forwards all occupy a similar area and negate their threat without Brighton having to do much.

A couple of passes allow Fernandes to get forward as Maguire pulls back, but his options are limited by the positioning of United’s forwards, who are clumped together.

Fernandes’ pass is intercepted and United’s players pulling to the right – along with those chasing the tackle – leave Brighton with considerable space to exploit in midfield.

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Some of United’s positional transgressions feel like the product of information paralysis: a team conflicted between following Amorim’s precise instructions and their instincts.

Amorim’s press conference suggested he wants them to learn his system better, rather than switch to pragmatism as United managers before him have done – even if at the cost of poor results.

“I just want to help my players… I didn’t put two strikers (on) because if I do, it will be harder for them to understand the way we play.”

The weekend suggests that there is plenty of unlearning to do first.

(Header photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)