It was plainly too good to be true. Or to last. There were 82 seconds on the stadium clock when the Ruben Amorim era at Manchester United was jump-started. The new manager had put his faith in Marcus Rashford in the No 9 role and it was United’s great enigma who scored to put them in charge. Rashford charged about in the early running, a point to prove.
And yet it was the prompt for a slow retreat by United for the remainder of the first half. The structure was different, United set up in Amorim’s trademark 3-4-2-1, but the players were the same, along with plenty of the frustrations from Erik ten Hag’s tenure. It is not Amorim’s fault.
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Ipswich were the better team before the interval and the excellent Omari Hutchinson got the goal they deserved before the end of it with a shot from distance that took a deflection off Noussair Mazraoui. After Kieran McKenna’s team had won for the first time in the Premier League this season at Tottenham before the international break, this was in point gained territory for them.
Not so for United. After all of the talking and goodness gracious there has been some talking, Amorim’s arrival feeling like the coming of the messiah, it was time for United to fire some optimism. They were a bit better in the second period but not much so. This will take time. Everyone knows that, most of all Amorim.
United had risen one place in the table on Saturday without playing – evidence, the club’s support hoped, of Amorim’s magic – and there was always going to be a spotlight on his first starting XI, plus all of the tactical nuances. Amorim talked on Friday about the need to “adapt some players” because he did not have the right profiles for his three-at-the-back system and there were a few square pegs in round holes, not least the left-footed attacking midfielder Amad Diallo at right wing-back.
Amorim did not have three fit specialist centre-halves – there were four out with injuries – and so it was the full-back, Mazraoui, on the right of the back three. Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in central midfield did not scream revolution. Or pace and intensity. There was no room at the outset for Manuel Ugarte.
Talk about the dream start, an element of vindication because it was Diallo who made the goal. He moved smartly through the gears up the right wing, after playing a give-and-go with Bruno Fernandes, and, having slipped a tackle from Jens Cajuste, his low cross was made to measure for Rashford, who had timed his run. The travelling United fans had chorused Amorim’s name after 30 seconds. Now they belted it out on loop for the next couple of minutes.
Ipswich stabilised. It was clear that Hutchinson had the beating of Casemiro and Jonny Evans, who played on the left of United’s back three. Hutchinson, in the right-sided No 10 role, was sharp with his turns and very quick.
Amorim was a presence at the edge of his technical area. This is what coaching on the hoof looks like and it had to alarm him that United sank deeper and deeper in the first half. They looked to hurt Ipswich with long diagonal passes into the channels but it was the home team that took a grip on the midfield. Inspired by Hutchinson, they grew in confidence and it was no surprise when they equalised.
The goal had been advertised; André Onana was busy in the United goal. He had pushed away a first-time hit from Sam Szmodics in the 11th minute but the big save came in the countdown to half-time as Ipswich raised the temperature. Leif Davies stepped inside Diallo with ease and he waited for the move of Liam Delap, putting the ball on a plate from him. Eight yards out, Delap put his foot through it only for Onana to throw out a big right hand, Schmeichel-style, to block.
United’s reprieve did not last long. Inevitably, it was Hutchinson, checking away from Casemiro on the right-hand edge of the area, quick feet to the fore. His curler flicked off Mazraoui’s head to deceive Onana on its way into the far top corner.
United pressed more onto the front foot after the restart, although they might have conceded when Delap tricked away from Matthijs De Ligt and surged through the middle. De Ligt looked awfully slow. Delap went right to Wes Burns and sprinted to meet the cross, his spectacular flick kept out by Onana.
Amorim asked Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho to swap sides in the No 10 roles. He got Luke Shaw on at left centre-half for his first football of the season, ordering him to stay close to Hutchinson. Ugarte replaced Casemiro.
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Garnacho had worked Arijanet Muric from a tight angle at the start of the second-half from a Fernandes pass. And there was the moment on 54 minutes when Garnacho led a break with Rashford available inside for the pass, Cajuste the only Ipswich defender. Garnacho looked for Rashford; Cajuste made a crucial interception.
Amorim searched for the solution, introducing Rasmus Højlund for Rashford and bringing on Joshua Zirkzee in the right-sided No 10 role, swapping Garnacho back and dropping Fernandes into midfield.
Ipswich ran out of steam and ideas. Hutchinson was silenced. Did United have a late punch. The answer was no. Fernandes curled a free-kick inches wide but there was little else. It would have been worse if the Ipswich substitute, Conor Chaplin, had shot either side of Onana from a cross by another replacement, Jack Clarke. Onana stood tall.
