Manchester United players clearly struggled to adapt to Ruben Amorim’s methods and style of play during their 1-1 draw at Ipswich after a lack of time with him in training – but he has urged them to “learn quickly”
New Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim reportedly rated his team as a five out of ten after their 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Amorim’s hopes of a fairytale start at United were spoiled by the Tractor Boys, who held them to a stalemate after Marcus Rashford’s opener after 81 seconds was cancelled out by Omari Hutchinson.
The Red Devils clearly struggled to adapt to Amorim’s methods and style of play with new boss having only recently started working with the squad.
Amorim deployed a 3-4-3 against Ipswich but admitted after the match that many of his players were “overthinking” before losing control of the game.
According to the Sun, he gave a rating of five out of 10 to his below par team and felt the performance spoke volumes about the huge task he faces to get them delivering consistent results.
A source told them: “Amorim said their performance was a five out of ten. He was impressed with Ipswich and thought the game was played at an incredible intensity. But he added that it showed just how much United need to improve.”
Amorim said he selected players like Johnny Evans, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in his side – despite not being the quickest – because they had spent the longest on the training ground learning about his methods.
Other players like Manuel Ugarte – who arrived back at United later from Uruguay duty – came off the bench against Ipswich and Amorim is expected to continue shuffling his pack until he works out his best team.
Amorim is understood to have been lenient with some players for underperforming at Portman Road after a lack of time training with him but reportedly warned his squad they must “learn quickly”.
“He was critical of one or two players for losing the ball and not being in the right positions,” the source added. “But he also said, ‘Some of you I’ve had for two days, some two weeks’, so he was realistic. He did say they were going to have to learn quickly.”
Next up for United is a home clash against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League before a home game against Everton on December 1. Amorim will then face his toughest test so far as United travel to Arsenal on December 4.
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