Former Chelsea man Chris Sutton has predicted that new manager Ruben Amorim will have a hard time in his Manchester United debut at Ipswich Town. Sutton believes Ipswich is full of confidence after their 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur and will be able to hold Amorim’s men to a 1-1 draw at Portman Road Stadium.
Manchester United has gone through a major overhaul in the last month. At the end of October, the club dismissed Erik ten Hag, appointing Ruud van Nistelrooy as interim manager. The Dutchman, who started the season as Ten Hag’s assistant, did an excellent job, taking the club to three wins and one draw in four matches before the international break. Days before his interim stint ended, Man Utd announced Amorim as the next permanent manager, revealing he would take charge on November 11.
Chris Sutton Says Manchester United Will Drop Points in Ruben Amorim’s Debut
Due to the international break, Amorim did not get enough time with his players. Sutton believes that the lack of familiarity with Amorim’s preferred 3-4-2-1 system could spell trouble for the Red Devils away from home.
In his BBC column, Sutton shared:
“I am guessing this is Amorim’s first visit to Ipswich and he will probably be a bit underwhelmed because there are much nicer cities in East Anglia to visit. It’s not the ideal place for him to get started with Manchester United either.
“Ipswich’s win at Tottenham will give them real belief and they have had three draws already at home, so they will be competitive, especially if United are adapting to a new system – a lot of their players are coming back from international duty and haven’t had time to work with Amorim.”
He added:
“United will have some defending to do because Sammie Szmodics is lively up front and Liam Delap is a handful too – his stats for goal involvements, including assists, is really impressive. Ipswich just need to stop being so careless defensively. If they do that, they could get something from this game.
“Everyone else is probably going to put Amorim to start with a win, but I am going for a draw. After all the excitement and the hype about the apparent upgrade, then it is unthinkable for United to lose to the Tractor Boys, but imagine if they do drop points?”
Manchester United and Ipswich Town have faced each other 57 times over the years. United have won 29, Ipswich 19, and nine games have ended all square.
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