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Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge of Manchester United did not end the way he had hoped for with Ipswich Town grabbing a point from the encounter at Portman Road on Sunday.
It was Marcus Rashford who had handed the visitors the lead but after that, it was the hosts who dominated and created the better chances.
They were unlucky to only score once with Andre Onana saving the Red Devils’ blushes. The players seemed like they were yet to come to grips with the ex-Sporting Lisbon boss’ demands, something that was anticipated.
But the major issue was the imbalance in the team with quite a few players not looking fit for the new head coach’s purpose.
Players did not look too comfortable
As Amorim later pointed out at the end of the game, many players did not play too freely and always seemed hesitant as they tried to figure out the exact patterns.
“It was really hard for [the players to adapt], they were thinking what to do. It was not fluid which is normal after just two training sessions but they tried hard.
“They have so much space to improve. But after a draw you never feel the good things. So I am really happy because they tried but they can do so much better.”
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Harry Maguire, currently sidelined, agreed with the coach’s assessment and added that the players did not play freely, which contributed to Ipswich’s strong home show.
“When you come from one style to another style, like the manager said in his interview after, I think people on the pitch are thinking too much where they want to be,” Maguire told Sky Sports.
“At the end of the day, it’s a football match. Go and be better than your opponent and go and win the football match. Within that, play with his principles.
“I think we overthought the game against Ipswich. I think that’s natural because the boys are wanting to play the way that the new manager wants to play. But I think we’ve got to let it adapt with [fluency], rather than forcing it.”
Maguire agrees with Amorim
While Maguire meant well, whether the dressing room will be too pleased with the blunt reaction from their former skipper in front of the media remains to be seen.
Amorim could have taken the shortcut of sticking with the established tactics but chose to start from scratch and it is expected to be risky as he has already claimed.
But United have quality and the players should ideally start to grasp things and wins will help with the confidence with a Europa League home tie against Bodo/Glimt up next.
The Portuguese tactician would also prefer a full-strength backline with quite a few defenders sidelined leading to the manager pondering academy debuts for Thursday’s game.
