As anyone who has watched this thoroughly subpar team throughout the 2024/25 Premier League season would have predicted, Manchester United failed to impress in the managerial debut of Ruben Amorim on Sunday against Ipswich Town.
While it looked like Manchester United would be off to a fairytale start on the road with a counterattacking goal in the second minute for Marcus Rashford, of all people, Ipswich equalized and legitimately controlled much of the game.
Ipswich could have easily won this match if it weren’t for more heroics from Andre Onana in goal, as Amorim unsurprisingly could not turn around a completely lackluster squad in his first game.
Manchester United have a lot of growing to do under their new coach, but there were also some managerial decisions that were a bit of a surprise. Let’s take a closer look at five of them.
Marcus Rashford is the 9
It wasn’t a surprise to see Marcus Rashford get a start for Manchester United in Ruben Amorim’s managerial debut, but it was surprising to see him start as the lone striker.
The thinking going into the game was that Rashford would either play as a striker next to another striker, such as Rasmus Hojlund, or as a left winger or left-sided attacking midfielder in a supporting striker role to Hojlund or Joshua Zirkzee.
Instead, Rashford was the main man for the Red Devils, but beyond a fairly simple finish for a goal on the break in the second minute, the England international had a pretty tame game up front.
You would have honestly expected more of an impact from Rashford against an opponent like Ipswich, as he failed to have another shot for the rest of the game and was subbed at the 67th minute.
Hojlund should really be preferred in this role, and he actually matched Rashford’s overall attacking output as a sub, goal aside. The two together up top is worth exploring, though.
The wing backs
Amad Diallo had the most impactful play of the game for Manchester United, surging down the right flank to set Rashford up with a cross that he simply could not miss.
So far this season, Diallo’s breakout has been one of the brightest storylines at Old Trafford, alongside the success of summer signing Noussair Mazraoui. Diallo was the best overall player on the pitch for Manchester United on Sunday, recording two key passes, two dribbles completed, and two fouls drawn.
But while it was a successful start as a right midfielder, Diallo shouldn’t be used so far away from the goal. It’s going to be a trick for Amorim to balance or unbalance his formation with wing backs, because he could, in theory, push Diallo up the pitch and keep someone like Mazraoui or Diogo Dalot deeper on the left side.
Of course, doing that with Dalot may not be as useful, because he is such a great attacking threat and is truly a wing back at heart. Dalot has been effective in an inverted role on the left side, but starting him as an inverted wing back is a faux pas that narrows the pitch and takes out Dalot’s best asset as a crosser.
Manchester United have multiple right wing back options but no true left wing back option, since Tyrell Malacia and Luke Shaw don’t project well enough in one-on-ones for that role.
So the wing backs are necessary for width, unless if Amorim plays Rashford and Diallo as true wingers in a 3-4-3, and yet Dalot and Diallo were inverted wing backs on Sunday, which is a strategy doomed to fail (just ask Andrea Pirlo).
Going old in midfield
Ruben Amorim started Casemiro and Christian Eriksen against Ipswich Town, electing instead to have Mason Mount and Manuel Ugarte come off the bench. Kobbie Mainoo’s return will obviously be a huge boon to boosting this sagging midfield, while Mount is probably not fully ready to start yet.
That said, a duo of Casemiro and Eriksen in midfield spells disaster, as it’s been about five years since the tandem would be a world-class one, though you’d probably still never consider the two of them a perfect mesh at the center of a 3-4-3.
Casemiro and Eriksen have both declined to such an extent that it is a failure of Manchester United that the two are still starting games for the club in the 2024/25 season.
Both men were woeful and completely overrun by Ipswich on Sunday, so there’s really no need to belabor a point that should have been painfully obvious before the match started.
If Amorim thinks it’s a good idea to start these two together again, he may as well pack his bags and join Erik ten Hag on the unemployment line, harsh as that is to say.
Jonny Evans starts
Options were slim with Amorim practically married to a back three and young standouts Lisandro Martinez and Leny Yoro both still out injured in what proved to be huge blows, but you’d think that sticking with the previous 4-3-3 and transitioning to a 3-4-3 would have been preferred if choosing the latter meant starting Jonny freaking Evans.
The fact that Evans is still starting matches for Manchester United this season at the age of 36 is a failure of epic proportions that isn’t really on Amorim, but even Harry Maguire or Victor Lindelof would have been superior to Evans.
Two playmakers
Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes are two of Manchester United’s best players, and the case can be made that they are their two most productive attackers right now.
The problem is that starting both of them together as playmakers in a 3-4-3 with inverted wing backs sounds like a recipe for disaster, because it just condenses the middle of the field so much.
Garnacho and Fernandes are players who need the ball to feel important and don’t really like sharing it, unless if it means they are the ones making the key pass. They are not “midfield’ playmakers but rather “attacking” playmakers who like to score and assist rather than win or progress possession.
It felt like Garnacho was trying to do way too much. Whereas Fernandes was at least competent at creating a trio of chances for his teammates, Garnacho did absolutely nothing – less than nothing, even – and should have been subbed by Amorim sooner than the 85th minute mark.
We know Bruno is going to be important to the former Sporting CP coach, so Garnacho could easily be the one to stagnate if he is forced to share the spotlight with Fernandes in a dual-playmaker setup that serves the benefit of nobody – except maybe a grateful defense that gets to force a lot of Manchester United turnovers.
