When the ball went into the Ipswich Town net after just 80 seconds, Ruben Amorim was allowed to dream of the perfect debut at Manchester United. But then the bitter reality set in.
“The physical aspect of the team” had been repeatedly identified by Ruben Amorim as a central point for improvement in the run-up to his United debut. The fact that his players in Ipswich combined for a total mileage of just 102 kilometers – the second-worst total this season – was partly due to the possession advantages, but it fit the overall picture of the Red Devils.
“We have to get a lot better physically,” the Portuguese acknowledged after the final whistle at the Sky microphone. However, after only two days of training as a whole team, he said they needed ‘time to work on these things.’
In a week more spoken, ‘as in four years at Sporting’
Time, of which there is a limited supply in the red part of Manchester. Expectations are higher than in Lisbon, and the media interest is also incomparable to that at Amorim’s previous club: “This week I have spoken more than I did in four years at Sporting,” said the coach, who “doesn’t want anything more” than to work with his players.
That this can lead to success was evident after less than two minutes, when Amad, following a long sprint along the sideline, had prepared the early opening goal for Marcus Rashford. Amorim had used the assist provider – and nominal offensive player – as a right-back and thus indirectly had a hand in the 1-0 interim score.
Amorim calls for more risk
In the end, the Red Devils ultimately failed to build on the promising start. The coach justified this, among other things, with the lack of willingness to take risks: “If we now just try to win games and risk nothing, we are guaranteed to have the same problems next year at the same stage. We have to deal with the new idea and try to get better,“ said Amorim.
”At the moment,” United are also unable to ‘control the pace of the game’ even after such an early lead. It makes no difference at this point that the players have ‘really tried’ and ‘want’ to.
Next chance as early as Thursday
Ahead of Amorim, who must now prove himself as the seventh permanent successor to the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, lie labor-intensive weeks. With a six-point gap, the Champions League places are still within reach, but the twelfth-placed team can no longer afford too many slip-ups.
After the disappointing debut, Amorim and ManUnited have the next task on Thursday when Bodö/Glimt will be guests at Old Trafford in the Europa League (9 p.m.). The Portuguese will then have another chance to get off to a better start than Ferguson, who, almost 28 years ago, only managed a 0-0 draw at Norwich after his own unsuccessful debut (0-2 at Oxford United).
