Ipswich 1-1 Manchester United
New Manchester United manager Rúben Amorim believes his players were “thinking too much” after watching them produce a disappointing display in his first game in charge at Portman Road.
United gave Amorim the dream start to life in the Premier League when Marcus Rashford put the visitors ahead after just 80 seconds, but Omari Hutchinson snatched a deserved equaliser before the break and Ipswich were well worthy of a point from an otherwise forgettable game.
Amorim’s Red Devils failed to really trouble their opposition for much of the remainder of the match, moving up just one place to 12th in the Premier League. Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the former Sporting boss admitted that his players struggled to cope on the occasion of his debut evening on the United bench.
“It’s a tough league, you learn that in the first moments,” Amorim began. “I think my players were thinking too much during the game, you can feel it. They were thinking not just of the ball but where am I supposed to be. That is hard, with two days [of full training] because the team has been all together for just two days.
“We needed more physicality I think in the first half, because they left us 1v1 in attack and we have to use those moments to feel the opponent. But it was a tough match, we lost some balls without pressure. When you start a game like this, you score one goal, then you have to control the ball; you have to control the tempo of the game. We cannot do it at the moment.
“But they tried, they really, really tried. I know for some people it’s hard to understand this, but they are really, really trying and they want this.
“We have two ways. We [can] try to just win games and not risk anything at this moment – and I guarantee: next year, at this stage, we have the same problems. From the first moment we will have problems, players will be confused sometimes, but we have to address the new idea from this moment and try to be better at the same stage next year.”
The players want it - Amorim
Asked what he learned about his players, Amorim insists the United squad are working hard to implement the new ideas, but that there will be a period of adjustment. With a busy run of fixtures across the next month, Amorim's men will be required to use every training session and outing across competitions to build on the stalemate on Saturday.
“What I take away from the game? They want it, they want this,” Amorim said. “Sometimes they don’t know how to get it. That is my feeling. You can say it’s three trainings [sessions] and if they’re not excited at the moment, we have a big problem.
“I think Garnacho can hold the ball between the lines, you can understand that by seeing the games. You understand these things. Bruno Fernandes: he improved his game playing nearer the ball [deep] and feeling the ball. So he can give us sometimes the long pass, but you cannot put him there all the time because he wants the long pass all the time. We try to find things about the players and we will need a lot of time to work out these things.
“If you see the first half, we were a little bit afraid. The number 5 [of Ipswich] was always alone and we have to jump on him. Then the no20 Hutchinson was always in the dead space, Jonny Evans should be pressing that guy. But when we don’t have training and it’s hard to say all the directions to the players…they are confused a little bit. We have to be so much better physically, to cope with the high pressure But we need time to work these things.
“We have games and the guys that don’t have games have trainings. Everybody’s going to play and everybody’s going to be on the bench, so they have the feeling of the game. With this schedule we need to rotate the team, so we will try to use that to train, to improve the team and win matches. Without time we have to find the time, this is the only way.
“We are going to suffer, but we will try to win games. This will take time. But I know we will have to win games. We could have [won] this game, we could have lost if it wasn’t for [goalkeeper] Onana. But we have to think, be pragmatic and say these guys had two days to train.”
By @SeanGillen9
