Ruben Amorim was left in no doubt as to the size of the task he faces in rebuilding Manchester United following Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Ipswich.
Erik ten Hag’s successor took charge of his new club for the first time on Sunday but despite enjoying a dream start, courtesy of Marcus Rashford’s second minute goal, he was forced to settle for a point.
Amorim did his best to put a positive spin on United’s display in his post match interviews but privately he now accepted the performance was average at best.
A source told The Sun: ‘Amorim said their performance was a five out of ten.
‘He was impressed with Ipswich and thought the game was played at an incredible intensity.
‘But he added that it showed just how much United need to improve.’
The Tractor Boys, managed by former United coach Kieran McKenna, were promoted in the summer and although they sit 18th in the table, they have proven more than a match for the majority of teams they have faced.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Despite having been impressed with Ipswich’s tenacity and technical ability, Amorim acknowledged his own players were guilty of errors that will need to be eradicated if his team are to make swift progress up the division.
The source added: ‘He was critical of one or two players for losing the ball and not being in the right positions.
‘But he also said, ‘Some of you I’ve had for two days, some two weeks’, so he was realistic.
‘He did say they were going to have to learn quickly.’
Amorim, meanwhile, feels rotation over the next month will help speed up the process of Manchester United’s players becoming accustomed to his style of football.
Various principles of the 39-year-old were on display at Portman Road with three centre-backs deployed alongside the use of wing-backs, but United were indebted to two excellent Andre Onana saves to claim a point.
There is no time for the Portuguese coach to settle into his role at the 12th-place club with seven Premier League fixtures in December alongside two Europa League ties and a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham.
However, Amorim plans to regularly shuffle his pack every three days and work specifically with the players out of his starting line-up to turnaround their fortunes.
‘We have to find a way. I think the only way to do it is we have games and the guys that don’t play have training,’ Amorim said.
‘Everybody is going to play and everybody is going to be on the bench, so they have the feeling of the game, but they need to train.
‘With this schedule, we need to rotate the team. So, we will try to use that to train, to improve the team and to win matches. That is the point.
‘Without time, we have to find the time and I think this is the only way. Some of the guys are going to play, some of the guys on the next day will work on our idea and then they will change the position.’