Man Utd draw at Ipswich in Amorim’s first game in charge: Five things we learned | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge of Manchester United ended in a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town.

Marcus Rashford gave United a very early lead, poking in from Amad’s cross before the two-minute mark but Omari Hutchinson struck a deserved equaliser for the home side before the break.

Here are five talking points from the game…

Different system, similar style

As expected, Amorim opted for his favoured 3-4-3 formation which brought him plenty of success at Sporting CP, with Noussair Mazraoui, Mathjis de Ligt and Jonny Evans as the starting back three and Amad and Diogo Dalot as the wing-backs. But despite the change in system, this was very much a typical United performance of this season with an emphasis on quick, direct counter-attacks by attempting penetrating through balls into United’s pacey attackers. There were differences in the positions players took up, with Alejandro Garnacho playing more inside and Marcus Rashford playing as the central striker, for example, but the performance largely looked the same to Erik ten Hag’s United.

Amorim has only been in the job for a couple of weeks and has not had long to work with the players, especially those who were on international duty during that time, so it is unreasonable to expect too much change, but how much changes over the next few weeks will be intriguing. He will know his United team were too easy to counter on and gave up way too many chances against Ipswich.

Outstanding Onana

Andre Onana has come in for his fair share of stick since his move to United before the start of last season but he has arguably been the best goalkeeper in the league so far this campaign, and was crucial in United gaining a point at Portman Road. He produced a superb stop to deny Liam Delap from close range in the first half and kept the striker out again in the second with his flicked effort from close range. He has cut out the mistakes that were so damaging last season and finally looks like the player United thought they were signing.

Hutchinson exposes United’s weaknesses

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna opted to use Omari Hutchinson in a position just inside from the right-wing against United, which allowed him to cause the opposition all sorts of problems given United’s lack of pace on the left side of defence. He combined brilliantly with right wing-back Wes Burns when Ipswich got the chance to break quickly and gave left centre-back Jonny Evans a torrid time during the first half. His goal required a deflection off Mazraoui to beat Onana but it was richly deserved, and he looks a real talent.

Luke Shaw returns

One positive for United was the return of defender Luke Shaw as a second-half substitute, coming on to replace Evans as the left-sided central defender. Shaw had not played this season before coming on against Ipswich due to persistent injury problems but having the 29-year-old back available, with his versatility to play the position he did today or as the left wing-back, will be a valuable option for Amorim, who knows he will have to be careful with Shaw, however, in order to keep him available for longer.

Can draw specialists Ipswich turn them into wins?

No team has drawn more games in the Premier League than Ipswich this season with six. The positive is that they have only lost five of the 12 games they have played after winning promotion from the Championship last season, but the bad news is they have only won one, a victory over Tottenham before the international break. McKenna’s side are clearly good enough to compete at this level and have shown that so far, but must start turning draws into wins if they are to stay up. Despite it being a good point, they had the chances against United to pick up all three.