Roy Keane jokingly suggested how he would prefer Manchester United to play with another system than the one Ruben Amorim has implemented in his first match in charge of the club. However, the United legend was certainly not laughing when he picked out a worrying trend within the squad.
Amorim was taking charge of United for the first time on Sunday, against Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich Town at Portman Road. Marcus Rashford initiated the perfect start with an opening strike inside two minutes, however the home side were able to gradually battle their way into the match and equalise in the 43rd minute.
That opening period ended with an equal split of 50 percent possession apiece, whilst Ipswich bossed the attempts on goal with seven to the visitors’ five.
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Responding to the suggestion that McKenna’s side were fearless on Sky Sports at half-time, pundit Keane said: “But there is nothing to fear when you’re playing against Man United. They get a great start, Man United are sitting back and I’m looking at it like ‘what are you waiting for? Go after it’. You sit back and give Ipswich a lot of encouragement, certainly deserved their equaliser.”
This was one of the criticisms of the squad in the waning days of Erik ten Hag’s reign, so they evidently have been unable to shake this in the short time that Amorim has been able to work with the squad.
As expected, the new boss had United line up in a new 3-4-3 formation. Surprises were goalscorer Rashford leading the line when he has previously acted more prominently from the left, Amad Diallo operated as a right full-back, whilst Noussair Mazraoui and Johnny Evans were named two of three central defenders.
Asked for his thoughts on the system, Keane pondered a change through a smile: “I’d go back to a 4-4-2. Big striker up front, little guy. Yeah, why not?”
