New Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim felt his players overthought their moves in the 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town.
The 39-year-old began his Premier League venture in an away clash at Portman Road in what seemed to be a favorable debut given the hosts are 19th in the table.
The Portuguese tactician couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the match, as Marcus Rashford reaped the brilliant work of Amad Diallo down the right flank to poach the opener 81 seconds into the match.
But while some had envisioned a comfortable victory for the visitors, it wasn’t quite the case.
Ipswich showed their character as they gradually built momentum, and eventually managed to equalize just before half-time through a curling shot from Omari Hutchinson that took a slight deflection off Noussair Mazraoui who was trying to clear the ball, but ended up beating his own goalkeeper Andrea Onana.
In the second half, Amorim tried to shake things off with a series of chances, bringing in the likes of Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund but to no avail. In fact, Ipswich arguably had the more dangerous chances, with Onana having to produce five saves, including an early contender for the best stop of the season.
Amorim Explains Manchester United Issue
Photo by Sky Sports
After the contest, the new Man United boss felt his men were overthinking during the match while noting that they hardly had any time to bond.
“My players were thinking too much in the game. We had just two days altogether, we need more,” said the former Sporting CP manager in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.
“They leave us one against one and we have to use those moments. It was a tough match, we lost some balls without pressure.”
Nevertheless, Amorim insisted his men tried their best to earn a result.
“When you start like this, you have to control the ball. We cannot do it at the moment but they really, really tried. They are really trying and they want this.
“We have to address the new ideas now and try and be better for the next stage.”
This result leaves the Red Devils 12th in the Premier League standings with 16 points from 12 fixtures.