Ruben Amorim’s Man United debut: Poor draw at Ipswich, Ed Sheeran disturbance, warns team will ‘suffer’

For a glorious two minutes, it seemed like Ruben Amorim was going to come take over Manchester United and fix all their issues immediately when Marcus Rashford found the back of the net. But in dropping points in an away 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town, it shows the size of the job that Amorim will take on. 

United immediately took the pitch in Amorim’s customary 3-4-2-1 with Rashford getting the chance to lead the line, and while he performed well, scoring and putting his only shot on target, the issues of United not being able to actually get the ball to their striker remained. Rashford only took 13 touches and Bruno Fernades only created three chances against one of the worst defenses in the Premier League. 

For teams that can control a match, this wouldn’t be that big of an issue but United isn’t in a place to do that, allowing Ipswich to take 11 shots, putting six on target. The Tractor Boys had chances to win the match as well via striker Liam Delap because this team hasn’t spent enough time under Amorim to become comfortable in their passing and defending. Luke Shaw’s return will be a boon to the Red Devils considering his passing abilities as a left-sided centerback in a back three, and Amad Diallo also shined as a wing back assisting Rashford’s goal. 

These matches are ones that can show Amorim who he can trust compared to where United will need to improve. The pivot of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen left much to be desired but there are other options in Mason Mount and Manuel Ugarte who can give Amorim a different look. With Europa League play up next facing Bodo/Glimt, Amorim will have another chance to see what his team can do in a clash where they will be favored and able to continue instilling Amorim’s ideals. It’s tough to change everything in only two training sessions and it could be quite a period of adjustment from Erik ten Hag to Amorim.

“I know it’s frustrating for the fans, but we are changing so much in this moment with a lot of games,” Amorim said following the match. “We are going to suffer for a long period and we will try to win games, but this will take time.”  

He also spoke about the struggle of instilling his style on the fly and even during the international break, he didn’t have the full team available to work with. In weeks like this, one with two or three matches in eight days, training sessions can also be hard to come by. The blueprint is there for United to turn it around and some of the players are also there but this isn’t something that can be fixed overnight.

He also had to deal with another aspect of life in the Premier League when Ipswich Town fan and part owner Ed Sheeran crashed his post-match, pitch-side interview. Amorim was noticeably annoyed by Sheeran being there after Ipswich took a point off of Manchester United but continued to finish out the pitch-side interview.