Amorim admits Manchester United “Confused” and “Afraid” in frustrating 1-1 draw at Ipswich

Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United were “confused” and “afraid” as his first match in charge of the troubled club ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw against struggling Ipswich Town on Sunday.

Amorim, who replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag, was hoping for a debut victory, but despite an early lead from Marcus Rashford in the second minute, Ipswich’s Omari Hutchinson’s deflected strike leveled the score before halftime, denying the new manager a winning start.

The Portuguese manager arrived at Old Trafford amid a period of crisis, with United languishing in 12th place in the Premier League. While he praised the team’s work rate, Amorim acknowledged that many issues need addressing as they strive to recover from their poor form.

“It’s a tough league. My players were thinking too much during the game.

You can feel it — not just on the ball but in terms of their positioning on the pitch,” Amorim said. “We lost some balls and, when you start with a goal, you need to control the tempo. We can’t do that at the moment, but they really tried.”

Amorim also noted that the team’s decision-making was off, saying: “You have to keep the ball and understand the momentum.

We did some things at the wrong moments. We need to address that.”

The manager conceded that United’s performance in the first half reflected a sense of uncertainty. “We were a little bit afraid,” he admitted. “When we don’t have much training, we had only two days, they were a little confused. You can feel that in the data.”

Despite the limited preparation time after the international break, Amorim set up United in his favored 3-4-3 formation, the same system that led Sporting Lisbon to two Portuguese league titles under his stewardship.

However, the manager acknowledged that United found it difficult to adapt to the new system with minimal time to prepare.

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“It’s hard with just two days,” Amorim said. “Everyone talks about the 3-4-3, but that’s not the issue.

A system is a system, but the understanding of the game is where we need to improve.”

Amorim stressed that while United would face challenges in the short term, adopting a new philosophy is necessary for long-term success. “I know it’s hard for some players to understand this, but we have two choices.

We can try to win games without taking risks, but if we do that, we’ll be in the same position next year. We have to address these issues now.”

He went on to highlight the need for United to improve physically to cope with the high pressure of Premier League football. “First, they have to understand the game, and then they need to be much better physically to cope with the pressure. We need time to work on this.”