Ruben Amorim issues verdict on three Man United stars after draw against Ipswich in his first game in charge – as he admits ‘concern’ over young attacker’s performance

Ruben Amorim has given his verdict on three Manchester United stars after claiming a point in the 1-1 draw against Ipswich on his debut as manager on Sunday.

The 39-year-old finally got his first taste of Premier League action since replacing Erik ten Hag in the United Hot Seat with a trip to Portman Road in a match the visitors were widely expected to win.

Marcus Rashford’s early opener inside two minutes gave Amorim the perfect start to his reign, only for Ipswich to force themselves back into the game, with Omari Hutchinson scoring a stunning long-range effort before half-time.

Shared revenue saw United climb to 12th in the standings and although it was a mixed performance, Amorim’s favored 3-4-3 system did get some joy against Ipswich.

The attacking formation is new for United’s stars and will need time to adapt – as Amorim admitted – as the former Sporting Lisbon boss was only given a few days of training to work with his squad before taking charge for the first time had.

Amorim praised his players for trying to understand his vision after such a short time together, but put the spotlight on three United players as he analyzed his team’s performance.

United captain Bruno Fernandes played in United’s front three before later dropping deeper into midfield, where he made a big impression for Amorim, but the new coach questioned the playmaker about always wanting to play long balls.

After the match, Amorim said: ‘Bruno Fernandes, I think he has improved his game by playing closer to the ball and feeling the ball so that sometimes he can give us the long pass.

“But you can’t put him there all the time because he wants the long pass all the time.

“So we’re trying to find things out about the players, we’re going to need a lot of time to work these things out.”

Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho continued to establish himself strongly and was United’s most dangerous attacker throughout the second half, only conceding a goal when he defended at the last minute.

The 20-year-old burst onto the scene under former boss Ten Hag and is the club’s top scorer this season with three goals in 12 Premier League games, with Amorim revealing he was surprised by the winger.

“You start to discover things you didn’t know about Garna being able to keep the ball between the lines,” Amorim said of Garnacho.

“You can understand that by watching the games because it’s always open, so you try to find these things.”

Meanwhile, summer signing Joshua Zirkzee once again failed to win over the United supporters with another difficult performance after coming off the bench with just over 20 minutes remaining.

The Dutchman was wasteful in possession and struggled to play quick forward passes as United found themselves in dangerous attacking positions with the clock ticking.

Zirkzee is yet to replicate the form that earned him a £36.5million summer transfer from Bologna and Amorim identified a major ‘concern’ he has about the 23-year-old’s performances.

He said, ‘I think so [decision-making] is a problem, you don’t need to coach them at this level.

‘You have to keep the ball and know the momentum to put the ball in front. Sometimes you feel like you can’t keep the ball with you [have to] put the ball in front.

‘Then you have the feeling that at the end of the match we were standing around the penalty area with two strikers. Josh [Zirkzee] must understand that he has to go to the coffin to get the crosses.

“So we’re doing some things that weren’t at the right time, so we have to do something about that.

‘Sometimes people talk about the 3-4-3, that’s not what it’s about. The system is the system, but the understanding of the game is what we need to improve a lot in this area.”