There are still plenty of screws loose in Amorim’s reshuffled pack, writes SALT

Joining a club for a season there may, at least initially, be a temptation not to rock the boat too much while getting your feet under the table.

But Erik ten Hag left Manchester United as a sinking ship fell to 13th in the Premier League and quickly went in the wrong direction.

So Ruben Amorim declared that change was afoot. His 'idea' would be immediately clear.

“Day one we will start with our identity,” Amorim vowed ahead of this ding-dong clash in Suffolk.

“I think you'll see an idea. You may like it or not, I don't know, but you will see an idea.'

The changes went beyond just personnel and training – of which there were many differences. He placed Noussair Mazroui at right center back, had Amad Diallo as wing-back, Alejandro Garnacho as inside forward and it would be the 3-4-3 system that would serve him so well at Sporting.

The warm-up was also transformed.

Led by his trusted assistant Carlos Fernandes, United put an end to the informal shooting drills and instead went straight into training on set pieces, an idea he admitted he stole from Sergio Conceicao, an old rival in Portugal as Sporting boss .

Adelio Candido, his 28-year-old assistant, didn't want to waste a second until kick-off by pulling players aside for one-on-one conversations for final instructions.

The opening goal, which came after 81 seconds, was a move that Carrington seemed to have worked on methodically throughout the week. The Amorim Ball was here with a bang, it seemed.

A one-two on the right wing in the United half found its way back to Amad and he stormed past two players before picking out Marcus Rashford to finish with aplomb.

Diogo Dalot, operating as a left wing-back, returned to the bench and unleashed a fist pump, a nod to a practiced move coming off. Amorim remained unmoved. He knows he can improve this team quickly. He also knows that he cannot perform miracles.

“You will see changes, not big changes, because that is impossible in two training sessions,” he said.

What quickly became clear is that old habits die hard at United and Amorim became increasingly irritated in conversation with Fernandes in his technical area about the nature of fundamental mistakes.

Often he would extend an open palm and call on Alejandro Garnacho in particular to slow things down and keep the ball. It was Dalot who faced his wrath midway through the first half when he casually gave up possession and Ipswich broke.

At each stoppage in play, Amorim calmly instructed the players, appearing as if he was playing chess with them in real time by dictating their positions. Amid the wild atmosphere that Portman Road creates on nights like this, this was a valuable coaching session in every respect.

The problem he has, and will continue to have, is a lack of mobility in midfield.

His 3-4-3 system often left Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, who have a combined age of 64, out, allowing 21-year-old Omari Hutchinson, Ipswich's goalscorer and best player of the day, to feast at their expense .

“We tried to use the players to whom I had more time to pass information on,” Amorim explained in the build-up.

'For example, Casemiro had more time to train. [Manuel] Ugarte a day to train. Major changes are not possible in two sessions.'

So when Casemiro and Jonny Evans, himself struggling with pace at left centre-back, were hooked on Manuel Ugarte and Luke Shaw before the hour mark, it was an early sign that where Ten Hag showed restraint with his substitutes, Amorim was and will remain. be proactive.

One of the key pieces of the Amorim coaching puzzle at Sporting was for Candido to observe matches from a box in the stands.

It gave him a different perspective, a better assessment of the overall form and flow of a game.

Here on Portman Road he sat two miles from Amorim, sandwiched between Carlos Fernandes and Emanuel Ferro. How long that will last will be particularly interesting ahead of his debut at Old Trafford on Thursday evening.

By the end, this felt like a case of make-do-and-repair on the fly.

Amad at fullback looked like it could work. One sliding challenge to stop a Leif Davis cross in the early exchanges was a sign that the Ivorian has taken on defensive responsibilities where others have not. That could cause his minutes to skyrocket.

But United remain far too easy to play through and this was often pointed out to Amorim and Amorim as he sat up and down from his seat and looked back at two monitors set up on stands in front of the away bench.

When he sent on Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund with 25 minutes to go, giving Bruno Fernandes a deeper role, he got Carlos Fernandes up from his seat, dropped Zirkzee, opened a tactical folder and started frantically pointing and passing on information to give. .

“It's not difficult, and that's the most important point,” he promised in building up his key message to the players.

That may well be true. But towards the end, Amorim complained of a lack of pressure and a confusion about where the players should be as they looked at the bench in confusion.

It will take more than a week of training, a new warm-up routine and a black folder of tactics to right this creaking United ship.