But I think that that's a good thing.

I'll tell you more at the end why I believe this type of performance and result was a blessing in disguise for us all but mainly Ruben Amorim.

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The Portuguese's first game for the Red Devils didn't go according to plan despite a super fast start in which makeshift striker Rashford scored after 80 seconds thanks to some good work down the right by makeshift wing-back Amad.

But all of this makeshift stuff was something we were expecting giving the manager's 3-4-2-1 style. He stuck to his guns like he said he would and was admittedly a little weird to see us lineup that way having played with a 4 at the back for such a long time.

What was more interesting was the lineup itself with only two centre-backs available to start in a back three that usually has three CBs. Martinez, Yoro and Maguire all not making the cut.

The midfield didn't have Ugarte whom I thought was nailed on to start having had previous with Amorim. And then up top, as mentioned, Rashford was favored ahead of both Hojlund and Zirkzee despite them being closer to actual strikers than Rashford.

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But that selection proved correct as the number 10 got the first goal of the Amorim era. I don't think I'm jumping the gun here by saying that at this point, we expected that we would go on and win the league, just 80 second into the new manager's reign 😅.

However, default settings returned as we saw nothing from United thereafter. While the possession stats would've suggested that the game was 50-50, it was the home side who were actually controlling the game and doing so in the final third.

Amorim seemed to have instructed his players to play a little more on the conservative side when looking at how much defending we did and how little of the ball we had.

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Ipswich then started to grow in confidence and began creating a couple of good chances, one of which probably should've been the leveler but thanks to a great Onana save, United remained in the lead.

That de Gea-esque stop wouldn't be the first time the Cameroonian was called into action.

As the half continued, Ipswich kept on pushing and finally got their deserved equalizer after Omari Hutchinson's left-footed curler took a nick off Mazraoui's head that caused it to just about beat Onana.

1-1 at the break.

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It was unsurprising that Amorim didn't make any changes even though the performance was poor. But not long in, changes. Just 10 minutes after the restart, both Evans and Casemiro get taken off for a returning Shaw and Ugarte.

This meant that United had a lot more control in the second period without actually doing much, although even with this control, Ipswich still had the better chances. Liam Delap again causing trouble as he managed to get on the end of a cross that forced Onana into another brilliant save this time, to keep United in the lead.

Other than a Garnacho half-chance early in the second period, Amorim's players hardly created anything of note. He made further changes as both strikers Hojlund and Zirkzee came on for Rashford and Eriksen with Bruno dropping deeper to help Ugarte. Amorim shuffling half his team with these substitutions.

A final roll of the dice was to bring on Mount for Garnacho but that didn't really affect proceedings as the game ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw.

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And I feel like that is the word: disappointing.

I don't think any one of us were expecting to see United play like Amorim's Sporting including Amorim himself but I do think we all expected a lot more effort and energy. It looked all too flat and the worst thing I can say for Amorim is that you wouldn't say that there was much of a difference to Erik ten Hag's teams.

It was too much of the old habits.

A lot of what Amorim spoke about during the week in terms of needing to keep the ball better, run back a lot more and just show a lot more energy, was lacking.

Other than a formation change, I didn't actually notice a lot of his principles.

I know that this is only one game but we should've been seeing a lot more from those players. It was much too flat for a manager's first game.

I did like Amorim's substitutions as they were early, correct and also very brave as towards the end, he had Hojlund, Zirkzee, Mount, Bruno and Amad to try and win the game instead of settling for the draw. It shows that he isn't one who rests on his laurels.

There's not much that the manager did today that I can say was good or bad. I think he did pretty much what I expected and that it was more down to the players to execute his plans better.

He just looked so disappointed.

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Ratings

Onana - 7.5 MOTM

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Mazraoui - 6

De Ligt - 6

Evans - 5

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Amad - 7

Casemiro - 5

Eriksen - 5

Dalot - 5.5

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Bruno - 5

Garnacho - 5

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Rashford - 5.5

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Ugarte - 6

Shaw - 6

Hojlund - 6

Zirkzee - 6 (although that shot...)

Mount - 6

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Ruben Amorim - 6

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Final Thoughts

Why it is a blessing in disguise is because this is more the level of most of those players. Average is what a lot of them are.

If they went there and smashed Ipswich 4 or 5-0, it would be false. We've seen them do that before but inevitably, they drop a clanger and we start to see the real United.

I'd rather we have this sort of performance early on from that group of players rather than anything spectacular that might make us and Amorim believe that we're the best thing since sliced bread.

This was more realistic.

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While it doesn't feel great, I believe that Amorim would've learnt a lot more from this type of game than if we played like prime Barcelona and ripped them apart.

This would've been a big eye opener in that this job is perhaps a lot harder than he initially thought.

Disappointed with that draw but at least we didn't lose. Bring on Thursday.

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Background Image: Ruben Amorim applauds Man Utd's traveling fans after a disappointing 1-1 draw in his first game as manager | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)