Manchester United’s new era under Ruben Amorim got off to the perfect start – before it ended in familiar fashion at Ipswich.
The Portuguese manager made a flying start to life in the Premier League as Marcus Rashford scored after just 81 seconds of the clash that finished 1-1.
The England international has now scored as many top-flight goals under Amorim as he had done under Erik ten Hag since the March international break.
His early opener means Amorim is only the second permanent Premier League manager ever to see his side score within two minutes of their first game.
Ironically, he follows another former United manager in David Moyes, who enjoyed similar success – but at Everton.
The Scot watched David Unsworth grab an early goal inside 30 seconds en route to the Toffees’ 2-1 win over Fulham in March 2002.
Over 22 years and a failed Old Trafford stint later, Amorim has joined him in the record books after Rashford struck at Portman Road.
Amorim’s tactical prowess instantly paid dividends as Amad Diallo, operating in an unorthodox wing-back role, turned provider with a low cross for Rashford, although it wasn’t enough for the win.
The ex-Sporting Lisbon manager become the latest United boss after Ten Hag, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Michael Carrick and Louis van Gaal to not win his first Premier League match in charge of the club.
In fact, Amorim is the first permanent United manager to draw in their opening Premier League clash.
Despite United taking an early lead, it was Ipswich who began to take control of the match.
And had it not have been for Andre Onana’s stunning save to deny Liam Delap in the 40th minute, the hosts would have been level.
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But three minutes later, the Suffolk outfit got the goal they deserved.
Omari Hutchinson levelled the scoring with an excellent strike, his first goal in the English top-flight.
Taking aim from outside the box, his curling left-footed effort clipped off the top of Noussair Mazraoui’s head and into the top left corner.
And it was Ipswich who were the more threatening in the second half, with Onana again making a wonderful stop to keep out Delap as Ipswich threatened to take home all three points.
The result leaves United 12th in the table having won just four out of their 12 league matches.
As for Ipswich, they remain in the relegation zone in 18th place, but are now three games unbeaten in the division.
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United legend Roy Keane was less than pleased by what he saw, as he insisted his former employers don’t have the quality to finish in the top four.
The Sky Sports pundit stated: “This team, for the last year or two, has been all about moments.
“United sat back and you’re thinking, what are you waiting for? Go after them!
“They seemed fearful to go on and win the game. They lacked the confidence and belief.
“Do I believe they have the quality to get them back to top four? Absolutely not. The evidence is not there.
“It’s the same old stuff. Predictable and a real lack of quality.”
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Amorim has urged for time and patience as he gets his ideas across to his new United squad.
“It is hard to expect anything now,” he said.
“It is not a surprise but you see in-game. That is why I was a little bit anxious, because you cannot understand what will happen in the game. I felt that. I felt that they were trying. They were thinking too much in the game and that is normal.
“We start very well, but then we should have more possession with the ball and kept more of the ball. Sometimes, you have more of the ball in the defence and the rest of the guys were too stuck because they were thinking where they should be.
“This is the first point, when we make a new structure and we are so clear on that, they need time to have some fluidity in the game. I felt that, but it is [just] two training [sessions] and they did OK.
“We have to find a way. I think the only way to do it is we have games and the guys that don’t play, have training. Everyone is going to play and everyone is going to be on the bench so they have the feeling of the game but they need to train.
“With this schedule we need to rotate the team, so we will try to use that to train, to improve the team between matches.
“Without time we have to find the time and this is the only way. Some of the guys are going to play and some of the guys in the next days will work on our idea and then they will change the positions.”
