Manchester United come out on top after a 5-goal thriller against Ipswich Town at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim’s side got back to winning ways in the Premier League on Wednesday night to jump one place higher to 14th in the standings.
An action-packed first half saw its first goal after four minutes when Jaden Philogene took advantage of a breakdown in communications between Andre Onana and Patrick Dorgu.
It took United 18 minutes to respond as Bruno Fernandes delivered a brilliant free-kick before it was headed home by Ipswich captain Sam Morsy.
United’s took the lead shortly after the equaliser when Matthijs de Ligt turned the ball home after Palmer made a good save to keep out Diogo Dalot’s low strike.
The job became more difficult when Dorgu was dismissed for a reckless tackle after 43 minutes. Then Philogene drew the scoreline level as Ipswich pounced on the red card immediately.
United were down to 10 men and had a lot of work to do in the second half to secure three points, but Harry Maguire helped the situation with his headed finish lead just 3 minutes after the break.
Ipswich refused to roll over and they enjoyed plenty of the ball after conceding a third goal, but they were unable to create any meaningful chance to put Onana under more pressure. The Cameroon goalkeeper had just one save to make throughout the second half.
More howlers from Andre Onana
United conceded the opener in the 4th minute following a breakdown in communications between Onana and Dorgu.
The mistake came from Onana, who didn’t need to rush off his line considering Dorgu wasn’t under too much pressure, before the new left wing-back played Philogene through to score in an empty net.
Ipswich’s second goal saw Philogene’s low cross evade everyone and sneak into the corner. It is unclear why Onana was willing to let the ball go since it was always headed towards the goal.
Sadly, it seems like there’s always a calamity in Onana.
Patrick Dorgu has first game to forget
If Ipswich’s opening goal wasn’t bad enough, Dorgu’s night got worse when he was sent for an early shower after 43 minutes.
It was a horror tackle from the Denmark international and United fans can have no complaints about the decision.
Dorgu’s studs were up and he was fortunate not to have done serious damage to Omari Hutchinson.
The Dane will now miss the next three matches due to suspension.
Alejandro Garnacho exit raises eyebrows
Amorim reacted to Dorgu’s red card quickly by bringing on Noussair Mazraoui.
Although a personnel change was understandable, the decision to take off United’s most constant threat was very odd.
United had other attackers on the pitch who were having less of an impact on the game.
Garnacho’s unhappy facial expression painted a thousand words.
Bruno Fernandes’ troublesome set pieces
It’s not often you will hear United get praised for set pieces, but all three of the goals tonight came from Fernandes dead ball situations.
The best of the lot was United’s third goal as Maguire headed home a stunning delivery from Fernandes.
It means United have scored 10 goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season, which is more than their tally for the entirety of last season.
It would appear that United are working hard on set pieces in training.
Anti-Glazer and anti-Ratcliffe chants sung loud and clear
United fans sung about wanting rid of the Glazers and compared Sir Jim Ratcliffe to the club’s majority owners.
While the Glazers have never been popular at Old Trafford, this is a sign that the United faithful are not pleased with Ratcliffe’s decisions since becoming co-owner.
One of those decisions will see a further 200 redundancies at United.
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