Ruben Amorim has admitted Manchester United are “going to suffer for a long period” as the players try to adapt to his methods during the season.
United got off to a blistering start in Amorim’s first game as the club’s new head coach when Marcus Rashford scored after just 81 seconds against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
But Ipswich Town equalised through the impressive Omari Hutchinson shortly before half-time and United were indebted to goalkeeper André Onana for making two outstanding saves to deny Liam Delap and secure a 1-1 draw.
Amorim claimed his players were guilty of “thinking too much” as they wrestled with his new 3-4-2-1 system and fresh information and warned that there will be difficult moments ahead during the transition to a different structure and set-up in mid-season.
‘Hard to expect anything now’
“I know it’s frustrating for the fans but we are changing so much in this moment with a lot of games [to play],” he said.
“We are going to suffer for a long period and we will try to win games. This will take time. We have to win games but we could lose if it was not for Onana so I think we have to understand that and think and be pragmatic that these guys had two days to train to change so much.
“It’s hard to expect anything now. It’s not a surprise but you have to see it in game. That’s why I was a little bit anxious because you cannot understand what will happen in the game. I felt that.
“They were thinking too much during the game and that is normal. We started very well but then we should have more possession with the ball, kept the ball and sometimes we had the ball in defence and the rest of the guys were too stuck because they were thinking: ‘Where should I be?’
“So this is the first point. When we make a new structure and you are so clear on that, they need time to have some fluidity in the game and I felt that. But it’s two sessions and I felt they did OK.”
One of the severe drawbacks for United of changing manager during the season is Amorim has little time to work with his squad on the training pitch. If United overcome Spurs in their Carabao Cup quarter-final tie on December 19, Amorim will have one blank midweek – straddling New Year’s Day – until the end of January and not until the end of February if they fail to finish in the top eight of the Europa League and face additional games.
Amorim admitted it would be a case of learning on the job and a lot of rotation of players in an effort to get them all to grasp his methods.
‘They are really trying’
“We have to find a way,” he said. “I think the only way to do it is we have games and the guys that don’t play have training. Everybody is going to play, everybody is going to be on the bench, so they have the feeling of the game but they need to train.
“With this schedule we need to rotate the team so we will try to use that to train, to improve the team and to win matches. Without the time we have to find the time, I think this is the only way some of the guys are going to play.
“Some of the guys in the next day will work on our idea and then they will change their position.
“What I understood today is they are really trying. They stay in the positions, they receive the information and they try to use it in the game, that is very important. Even in the difficult moments I felt they were doing the things we wanted them to do.”
Amorim acknowledged there were players, such as Diogo Dalot, who were now being asked to do the opposite of what they were being instructed to do previously under Erik ten Hag.
‘We need time but we have to win games’
“They are thinking too much because things are so different,” Amorim said. “Some details – like they used to pass the ball and go forward, even the centre-backs. Now they have to go back. It’s these type of things – they start going forward and they have to think too much.
“Dalot used to pass the ball to centre-backs, then go inside, play as a midfielder, now he has to stick to this position [out wide as a wing-back]. It’s hard for the players in three days to cope with everything but if we talk about the structure I think that’s why I was brought here in the middle of the season.
“We try to cope with the things they are used to doing. Next year in the same stage we could be here with the same problems. Or we start now, we risk a little bit, we suffer a little bit and in the next year we will be better at this point so we have to risk it a little bit.
“They are thinking too much because we are changing so much with two training [sessions]. When we want to listen to a lot of you guys that Manchester United doesn’t have a structure, we will have a situation where you see a structure and you will say that: ‘But, oh, it’s not fluid.’
“This is like steps. We have to put in the heads [of the players] the structure. When they stop [over] thinking about the structure they will play so much better. But we need time to do that and during this time we have to manage to win games. That is very important and I know that.”
Kieran McKenna, the Ipswich manager, believes his side are making clear progress and could have won but for Onana.
“On another day we could have won it but if you concede an early goal the game could have run away from us, so credit to the players,” he said. “As the half went on we got more aggressive and more brave. It’s pretty clear we are making progress.
“We have been pretty consistent across the 12 games. Considering where we have come from to only lose five of the 12 games is pretty good.”
