by Ruben Amorim believes the rotation over the next month will help speed up the process of Manchester United players adapting to his style of football.
Amorim began his tenure with a 1-1 draw at Ipswich on Sunday, where Marcus Rashford’s 81st-second opener failed to inspire a triumphant debut from the former Sporting Lisbon boss.
The 39-year-old’s various principles were on display in Suffolk, with three centre-backs deployed alongside full-backs, but United were indebted to two excellent saves from Andre Onana to claim a point.
The Portuguese manager has no time to settle into his role at the 12th-placed club with seven Premier League matches in December as well as two Europa League matches and a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham.
However, Amorim plans to regularly reshuffle his pack every three days and work specifically with the players in his starting lineup to turn around their fortunes.
“We have to find a way. I think the only way to do that is to have games and have the guys who aren’t playing practice,” Amorim said.
“Everyone is going to play and everyone will be on the bench, so they have the feeling of the game, but they have to practice.
“With this schedule, we have to rotate the team. So we will try to use this to train, improve the team and win matches. That’s the point.
“Without time, you have to find time and I think that’s the only way. Some guys will play, some guys the next day will work on our idea and then they will change positions.
One of the major positives for the new United boss has been the performance of Amad Diallo in an unfamiliar right-back role.
Diallo burst onto the scene within two minutes to create Rashford’s breakthrough goal and was largely solid defensively against marauding Ipswich left-back Leif Davis.
Amorim added: “He’s improving a lot. Since these three days, he has improved a lot defensively but for him, the opponent he had all the time was the left back.
“So it’s like a winger following the left-back and it’s so much easier, I think, because he doesn’t have to think ‘can I jump on the centre-back or not? ‘, he just follows a guy and moves on with the same guy.
“It’s like a man-to-man game in this area. He was so focused on everything and I think he did a great job.
Sunday’s draw was bittersweet for former United first-team coach Kieran McKenna, who saw his Ipswich side battle for a point thanks to a deflected Omari Hutchinson strike at the 43rd minute.
Onana’s two moments of brilliance to thwart Liam Delap either side of half-time denied Ipswich a first Premier League home win this season, but with meetings against Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Newcastle at Portman Road over the For the next fortnight, McKenna knows what’s going on. required.
“I think a good step is to be hard to beat, to be competitive, to make this country a really tough place to come and impose yourself on the opposition, but we also need to win a few games to home,” McKenna said.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. Look, we’ve had four draws here. I think we could have won all four.
“We should have won one for me which is not debatable in the Leicester game and you take away the other three draws, the par score is probably win at least one if things get out of hand.
“Yes, we don’t feel far away but it’s another step.”
