Ruben Amorim has explained his decision to drop Manuel Ugarte and Rasmus Hojlund to the bench in his first match as Manchester United manager against Ipswich Town. Lisandro Martinez was entirely absent from the visitors’ squad after not travelling to Portman Road due to a back problem that forced him to withdraw from Argentina duty.
There was hope that Leny Yoro would make the squad after returning to training before the international break, but the 19-year-old also didn’t make the trip.
However, Amorim named Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Kobbie Mainoo among his substitutes, marking their comebacks from their respective lengthy spells out.
Ugarte and Hojlund joined that trio, Bayindir, Mason Mount, Antony and Joshua Zirkzee on United’s strongest bench for some time.
Andre Onana unsurprisingly retained his place in goal. In Martinez’s absence, Noussair Mazraoui was named as the right-centre-back alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Jonny Evans.
Amorim opted for Christian Eriksen alongside Casemiro as his midfield pairing, with Amad and Diogo Dalot on either side as the wing-backs.
The Portuguese coach also chose Marcus Rashford ahead of Hojlund and Zirkzee as his central striker, flanked by Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho.
And, ahead of kick-off, Amorim confirmed that a few of his selections were based on the fact that some players had only trained once after international duty.
“Some of the lads, they just have one training, one training is not enough,” Amorim explained in the Portman Road tunnel.
“So I want my players comfortable, and it will be time for everybody during this sequence of games.”
Sunday’s clash with Ipswich was Amorim’s first opportunity to instil his 3-4-3 system, starting a process that will likely take time to master.
But the 39-year-old insisted that he has had no problem getting his message across to his new squad, repeating that he has opted for players who have had more time on the training pitch this week.
Amorim added: “It’s not difficult, and that is the key point, the time that we have to train.
“So I try to put the players [in] that I have more time to train, and we will start in this way because we need to train. We need to pass the information.
“Today is different, so it’s a new life. Let’s start with the small details.
“That’s what I want, and I want my players to win the game, and they are capable of doing that.”
