The Ruben Amorim era has begun at Manchester United, and unfortunately for the team and their supporters, it did not begin with a win. A visit to newly promoted and currently within the relegation zone club Ipswich Town ended in a score draw on Sunday. Considering how much smaller of a club the Tractor Boys really are, this had to have felt like a loss for United.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring, just two minutes in, and the new era of good feelings had begun.
But 41 minutes later, Omari Hutchinson equalized for the home side, and that’s where the scoring ended in this one. After the game, Amorim gave his outlook about the future, and it was anything but rosy, to say the least.
“I know it’s frustrating for the fans, but we are changing so much in this moment with a lot of games,” Amorim said to the post match assembled media.
“We are going to suffer for a long period and we will try to win games, but this will take time. We have to win games, but we could lose if it was not for Onana, so I think we have to understand that and think and be pragmatic that these guys had two days to train to change so much.
“It’s hard for the players in three days to cope with everything, but we forget about the new idea. I think that’s why I was brought here in the middle of the season and we try to cope with the things they are used to doing [under Erik ten Hag]. Next year in the same stage, we will be here with the same problems or we start now, we risk a little bit, we suffer a little bit and in the next year we will be better at this point so we have to risk it a little bit.
“The [players] are thinking too much because we are changing too much with two trainings now without space to improve in training. But what I understood today is they are trying. They are really trying. Even in the difficult moments, I felt they were doing the things we wanted them to do.”
Wow “suffer for a long period”- that doesn’t sound too uplifting! It’s like when Beavis & Butthead would stumble upon a music video of a band/song that they just couldn’t stand. Beavis would say “this sucks, change it!” and Butthead would respond “no, suffer dude.”
omg! he’s alive?!!!
He still exists??!!!Good for him. #IPSMUN https://t.co/Gjo8LDieuz
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 24, 2024
That’s what watching United matches are going to feel like for awhile.
Moving on to the latest injury/fitness update from today…hey look a Luke Shaw sighting! He played for United for the first time since…last February, WOW! And along those lines, Tyrell Malacia was fit enough to make the matchday squad. However, he didn’t feature.
Ditto for Kobbie Mainoo, so perhaps both will feature on Thursday in the Europa League?
Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Leny Yoro were left out of the squad entirely. So it’s likely that no members of that foursome were passed fit to play.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.