Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd bow assessed: Gary Neville runs though the winners, red flags and familiar failings after first game

Gary Neville has questioned the hunger and appetite of the Manchester United players after their 1-1 draw with Ipswich, but admits the performances were in line with those of the past two-and-a-half years.

Ruben Amorim began his tenure as United head coach at Portman Road on Sunday, with Marcus Rashford's 81-second opener failing to inspire a triumphant debut for the former Sporting boss.

Several of the 39-year-old's principles were on display in Suffolk, with three centre-backs deployed in addition to the use of full-backs, but United were indebted to two excellent saves from Andre Onana to claim a point.

In a 15-minute interview with Monday Night Football, Gary Neville analyzes Amorim's first experience in the spotlight, picking out the players he thinks will benefit from his system and the red flags that still showed up on Portman Road.

Have we seen a more positive Man Utd?

I don't know [Man Utd were positive]. We were all curious how it would go [against Ipswich]. When I saw the team sheet I was a little concerned about the lack of pace. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how they were going to set it up.

If you saw them on the pitch and it was Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt and Jonny Evans as the back three, with Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in midfield, you know very well that five at the heart of the team do not have the pace or the energy and there is quite a bit of age in between.

I was concerned about how they would stay compact and continue to push up the field to maintain that energetic play. United started well but fell back to the levels of the previous months and Ipswich were the better side in the second half.

I think you will see a higher level of performance in the future once he has worked more with the players coming back from the international break.

Which players were the winners of this system?

Luke Shaw, if he can stay fit. Because I think the left center back should ultimately be able to play as a left back, he is well suited to do both. The same must be said of the right centre-back.

We saw Mazraoui do it against Ipswich. I think Ugarte will be a winner in midfield, not just because he has played for him before.

I think it's how you fit in with the likes of Rashford, Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes. Because you know one thing with that system: you have two full-backs, you have three at the back and two at the front.

It is then those three, of which clearly the two that he likes to play come in a bit. So you wonder what kind of Amad… Amad obviously played wide yesterday, but Garnacho, Rashford, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Fernandes. That's the mystery of those attacking positions where I can't quite see what's going to happen.

I think that Mainoo and Ugarte are absolute top players for me, as a midfielder. I think Luke Shaw will definitely play. I think he would be in a back four or a back three anyway.

I think you'll end up with Yoro as a right centre-back, just because of that energy and pace. So I think the winners will be the ones that I think can adapt.

If we played with Terry Venables with a back five or Glenn Hoddle with a back three, the outside centre-backs have to be able to go wide. So I think those who are more flexible and agile will be the winners.

Will there be short-term pain?

He must have noticed that immediately when he saw that performance. At the end of the game we saw the stat that Sky had given us in the post-match showing that United had covered 102km, which I think was obviously quite low.

The lack of energy… he said to me in the interview on Thursday that the one thing he wants to change right away is the athleticism of this team and the athleticism of the team.

I don't think he was just aiming to get them fitter. I think he actually meant they just run more. I talked to him about his Sporting Lisbon team and the fact that they were just an energetic team.

They were all absolute dogs when they were no longer owned. And look at that Manchester United team, they don't have good standards in terms of ball possession, whether it's in the last six months or the last two years. They just don't have the level of work that the teams in the league seem to have.

That became apparent again on Sunday. So there is a real problem, which is that Ruben Amorim will know a lot more at the end of the game than he would have before the game in terms of the lack of energy in that team compared to what he would normally have. expected back in Portugal with the team he led.

Were there any big red flags in terms of individual performance?

The red flags that were there would probably have been there over the last few months and the last season and a half of a team that is very difficult to watch.

And I say that with respect, because I really believe what Ruben Amorim said at the end of the game. No footballer goes onto the field wanting to lose, or not win, or work hard or do well.

They don't want criticism. But you see them playing, even yesterday, under the new system, and you look at Ipswich, who are near the bottom of the league, looking more organized and better coached. It seems like they have more interest in the game, more enthusiasm.

And that is a constant and has been a constant, not just obviously on Sunday, but a constant for the last year and a half, two years, three years. So we found ourselves in a situation where this group of players, to be honest, have created a pattern for themselves and become what they are.

And not just a red flag yesterday, because the same things that we've seen in the last six to eight months, ten months, we saw when Ruben Amorim was the manager, he saw it too.

He clearly knew how big this job was, but he must have recognized it.

It will get better in the coming weeks because those five backs he has picked, and I am not talking about the actual full-backs here, I am talking about the three at the back and the two in midfield, they will become more energetic and better, it type of staff, when the staff changes take place. But there is still a long way to go.

Roy [Keane] called Manchester United an average team, and that's nice.

What would be the success between now and the end of the season?

Success would be seeing a team that has real enthusiasm, energy, confidence and fighting spirit, and getting the players all together with some level of understanding.

I don't think you can even talk about trophies or top four at this point. It would be arrogant to do that, even though United have won two trophies in recent years.

Ruben Amorim will know in six to eight months which players he wants to keep on the bus, knows which players he wants to get rid of, changes them quite quickly and ends up with a team that starts next season and that: To be honest, he has a level of running enthusiasm, energy, athleticism and a level of quality and talent that could potentially get back into the top four.

Carra's MNF analysis on Man Utd's draw at Ipswich

Later on Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher dissected Amorim's system and believes the manager looked confident on his Premier League debut.

“I still saw a lot of what we saw, especially this season at Manchester United. The intriguing thing is it's a slightly different system. I'm very impressed with the manager, how he speaks and how he comes across.”

“Even on Sundays he comes to Sky and speaks to Roy Keane, a Manchester United legend, a man who has captained the club and won everything and he has no respect for him.

“He's a young man coming to the Premier League for the first time and he spoke very confidently. You look at him and you like the cut of his jib.”

“He comes across very well, but the most important question is whether he can achieve results on the pitch.

“It's not a great result at Ipswich, who as a promoted team should have won the game. There's a lot to work on, but the way they're set up already seems to suit certain players.

“Many of the current players are not good enough to play for Man Utd, regardless of the system. The fact that the new manager has come in is because he has not been good enough.”

“Of course he wants his own players, but he also wants players who are suitable for certain positions, especially the full-back role, which can sometimes be a specialist position.

“He will make changes over the next few spells and we probably have to assess the manager after 18 months when he might have brought in 10 players.

“Ultimately, United have to fight for the title.”