Some Manchester United stars adapted to Ruben Amorim’s style of play better than others during the draw against Ipswich Town.
The Red Devils made a flying start at Portman Road with Marcus Rashford scoring just 81 seconds into Ruben Amorim’s first match.
However, Manchester United struggled to keep control of the match and ended up losing the lead to Omari Hutchinson’s curling effort in the first half.
There were plenty of lessons to be learned from the Ipswich draw with glimpses of promise around Amorim’s style of play. He pointed out after the full-time whistle that many United players were thinking too much during the game.
It was a mixed bag of performances with United fans frustrated at Rashford while Andre Onana was superb, but one player signed by Erik ten Hag flew under the radar.
Matthijs de Ligt had near-perfect display vs Ipswich
Amorim raised eyebrows with his confirmed lineup vs Ipswich with a number of experimental roles across his 3-4-3 system.
One of which was Noussair Mazraoui, who played in the back three alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Jonny Evans.
Mazraoui impressed at the back, but he was outshone by De Ligt, who had a near-perfect performance against Ipswich.
De Ligt was impressive for the Netherlands over the international break and he carried that momentum into Amorim’s first match.
He played the full 90 minutes against Ipswich and took 86 touches. Impressively, De Ligt boasted a 99 percent passing accuracy with 80 out of 81 passes completed. He also won three of his five duels and only lost possession once.
Matthijs de Ligt did exactly what Ruben Amorim wanted
Ahead of his first match, Amorim promised fans they would see “an idea” of his playing style against Ipswich Town. He delivered on that promise.
He also spoke to United legend Gary Neville and said that one of the biggest improvements he wants to see is his side keeping the ball and not losing possession so easily.
READ MORE: Erik ten Hag gave Ruben Amorim the perfect £50m double-gift, he just didn’t know it
Against Ipswich, that was still a big issue for United but De Ligt led the way with a staggering 99 percent passing accuracy.
He proved that he can be a key player for Amorim, especially as the anchor centre-back in a back three.
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