Ruben Amorim singled out Joshua Zirkzee and Jonny Evans for criticism after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Amorim’s reign as United manager got off to the perfect start at Portman Road as Marcus Rashford gave the visitors the lead after just two minutes.
Liam Delap missed an excellent chance to pull Ipswich level as Andre Onana produced a superb save to deny the striker from close range.
But Kieran McKenna’s side found an equaliser as Omari Hutchinson’s long-range strike flicked off Noussair Mazraoui’s head and past Onana into the top corner of United’s goal.
Amorim made five changes in the second half with Luke Shaw, Manuel Ugarte, Rasmus Hojlund, Zirkzee and Mason Mount all coming off the bench.
Zirkzee was played in a No.10 role behind Hojlund after he was brought on in the 68th minute but Amorim has made it clear that the Dutch forward needs to work harder at getting in the box during United’s attacks.
‘I think that [decision-making] is a concern, you don’t need to coach them at this level,’ Amorim told Sky Sports.
‘You have to keep the ball and know the momentum to put the ball in front. Sometimes you feel that you can’t keep the ball and you [have to] put the ball in front.
‘Then you have like we are in the end of the game, we were around the box with two strikers. Josh [Zirkzee] has to understand that he has to go to the box to have the crosses.
‘So we are doing some things that were not at the right moment, so that is something we have to address.
‘Sometimes people talk about the 3-4-3, that is not the concern, the system is the system but the understanding of the game is what we have to improve a lot in this area.’
Amorim also highlighted Evans’ failure to get close Hutchinson, who was finding plenty of space to get the ball and turn towards United’s defence.
‘If you see the first half, we were a little bit afraid. The No.5 [Sam Morsy] was always alone, we have to jump on him,’ Amorim said.
‘Hutchinson was always in the dead space, Jonny Evans should be pressing his guy, but when we don’t have the training and it’s hard to see say all the reactions to the players.
‘We had two days, they are confused a little bit. If you stay here, you don’t run, you defend but you don’t run. You feel that in the data, but we have to understand the data to understand what happened in the game, then we have to be so much better physically to cope with the high pressure, the volume of the high-speed running, we need time to work on these things.’
Amorim also said he is keen for Bruno Fernandes to play a more integral role in United’s build-up play.
‘Bruno Fernandes, I think he improved his game by playing nearer the ball, feeling the ball, so he can give us sometimes the long pass,’ Amorim said.
‘But you can not put him there all the time because he wants the long pass all the time.
‘So we try to find things about the players, we will need a lot of time to work out these things.’
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