Ruben Amorim was in the middle of telling Kelly Cates, Roy Keane, Izzy Christiansen and Jamie Redknapp what had gone wrong with Manchester United’s pressing at Portman Road when Ed Sheeran suddenly popped by for a chat.
Amorim looked faintly embarrassed and stared at the ground as celebrity Ipswich fan Sheeran hugged Redknapp and offered some pleasantries, before eventually sensing the awkwardness and moving on. Welcome to the Premier League.
United’s new coach had enjoyed the best possible start to his Old Trafford career when Amad Diallo, his surprise pick at right wing-back, scorched away from two Ipswich defenders with a 50-yard sprint and crossed for Marcus Rashford to score at the near post in the second minute.
But United soon reverted to type. They appeared to run out of energy after about 25 minutes, and Ipswich dominated the rest of the first half, equalising just before the break through Omari Hutchinson’s deflected shot.
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Ipswich, for their part, gassed out 20 minutes into the second half. But a series of attacking substitutions by Amorim – in the closing stages half of United’s ten outfield players were recognised forwards – could not spark a decisive moment from his team. In the end 1-1 seemed an acceptable result for both teams, and United moved from 13th up to 12th in the Premier League table.
In his first interview after taking the job, Amorim had promised: “I think you will see an idea. You could like it or not, I don’t know, but you will see an idea. This I can guarantee.”
So what did we see at Portman Road?
United lined up in the 3-4-2-1 system Amorim always plays, or as he describes it: “three defenders, two wingers, two central midfielders, two number 10s, and a striker”.
Marcus Rashford played at centre-forward, Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho as the 10s, Diogo Dalot and Amad on the wings, Christian Eriksen and Casemiro in the middle, and Jonny Evans and Noussair Mazraoui played either side of Matthijs de Ligt in defence.
Note that he calls the wide players “wingers”, not “wing backs”, which helps to explains how he could see a physically slight player like Amad as a candidate for a role English football has traditionally seen as basically defensive. Jeremie Frimpong – a centimetre shorter than Amad – has excelled in a similar role for Bayer Leverkusen, though the right-footed Frimpong is at least playing on his ‘natural’ side.
The main point of difference in the first half was that United were very compact behind the ball and were chasing back eagerly when the situation required it. This renewed commitment reflected some of the themes Amorim had been talking about in the build-up, but was also typical for the first game under any new coach. As United (quickly) tired, even the running petered out. In fact, the final team distance of 102km covered was their second-lowest in the league this season.
Amorim started making substitutions just 10 minutes into the second half. It was no surprise that he sent on Manuel Ugarte to bring energy to central midfield. It was a surprise that Casemiro was the first midfielder withdrawn. Not being able to outlast Eriksen shows you where the Brazilian is at.
Casemiro, no longer part of the Brazil squad, has just had two weeks off, while Eriksen played 90 minutes for Denmark in Belgrade in midweek. But Casemiro, like Marcus Rashford, did go on holiday to the United States in that time.
Asked for his views last week, Amorim said “we cannot put this on the players”, as the club had given them five days off without specifying any restrictions on what they could do in that time.
But the fact that he also cited the episode as an example of how United’s culture needs to improve suggests he thinks “do not use short breaks to head off on long-haul trips” is the sort of thing that shouldn’t have to be spelt out to top professionals.
Afterwards, Amorim suggested that United had been inhibited by their lack of familiarity with the new system: “They were thinking too much during the game”. After all, they have only had two full training sessions with the new coach.
It is clear, though, that United’s players will have to adapt to the system, rather than the other way around. This is one of the biggest differences between Amorim and his predecessor, Erik ten Hag.
Asked at his own first press conference at United what kind of football his team would play, Ten Hag said: “Maybe you have seen Ajax – and I like that. But it’s always players dictating the way of playing . . . I will line up the players [in a way] that get the best out of them, and that they can go to the maximum, that they can feel comfortable in their role.”
What sounded like pragmatism was eventually exposed as a fundamental lack of vision; once his initial idea of “let’s sign Frenkie de Jong” didn’t happen, it turned out that ten Hag didn’t really know what kind of team he wanted United to be.
Amorim at least has a crystal-clear idea, but he does not yet have the players to make the vision a reality.
“I believe a lot in the players, you guys do not believe” he told the media last week – but the journalists have seen a lot more of these players than he has.
