Ruben Amorim served up a plate of humble pie and admitted Manchester United would “suffer for a long period” after a 1-1 Premier League draw at Ipswich on his debut as head coach.
Amorim enjoyed the perfect start when Marcus Rashford poked the visitors ahead after 81 seconds at Portman Road following excellent play by makeshift right wing-back Amad Diallo.
The 39-year-old would have expected United to kick on, but the opposite occurred as Ipswich roared back and claimed a deserved leveller via Omari Hutchinson’s deflected 43rd-minute strike.
In the end the visitors were indebted to goalkeeper Andre Onana, who produced two outstanding saves either side of half-time to deny Liam Delap from close-range and ensure they did not taste defeat on Amorim’s big day.
While the former Sporting Lisbon boss was happy with the effort of his players, especially in his favoured 3-4-3 system for the first time, he provided a damning assessment of their immediate prospects.
“It is hard to expect anything now. It is like not a surprise but you have to see it in the game. That is why I was a little bit anxious, because you cannot understand what will happen in the game. I felt that,” Amorim reflected.
“What I understood today is that they are trying, they are really trying. They stay in the positions, they receive 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 said for them to do.
“I know it is frustrating for the fans, but we are changing so much in this moment with a lot of games. We are going to suffer for a long period and we will try to win games. This will take time, but I know we have to win games.
“We could lose if it was not (for) Onana. We have to understand that and think and be pragmatic that these guys had two days training to change so much.”
