Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United were “confused” and “afraid” as his first match in charge of the troubled club ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw at struggling Ipswich on Nov 24.

Amorim’s initial taste of the Premier League started with Marcus Rashford putting United ahead in the second minute.

But Omari Hutchinson’s deflected strike hauled Ipswich level before half-time to deny Amorim a debut victory after replacing the sacked Erik ten Hag.

Amorim has arrived from Sporting Lisbon to find a team in turmoil and languishing in 12th place in the Premier League.

While he was impressed by United’s work rate against third-bottom Ipswich, he conceded there were numerous flaws to iron out.

“It is a tough league. My players were thinking too much during the game. You can feel it. Not just on the ball but where they are supposed to be on the pitch,” he said.

“We lost some balls. When you start like this with one goal, you have to control the tempo. We cannot do it at the moment but they really tried.

“You have to keep the ball and know the momentum. We are doing some things not in the right moment. We have to address this.

“If you see the first half we were a little bit afraid. When we don’t have training, we had two days, they are confused a little bit. You feel that in the data.”

Despite having just two days to work with the whole United squad after the international break, Amorim deployed his preferred 3-4-3 formation.

That system helped Sporting win two Portuguese titles in his four seasons with the club, but Amorim said United found it tricky to adapt with little preparation time.

“It is hard with just two days. Everyone talks about the 3-4-3 but that is not the concern. A system is a system, but the understanding of the game we have to improve a lot in this area,” he said.

“I know it is hard for some guys to understand this. We have two ways. We try to just win games and don’t risk nothing. Then I guarantee at this stage next year we would have the same problems.

“So now we will have some problems, but we have to address the new idea and try to be better at the same stage next year.”

Questioning whether United have the strength required to succeed in the Premier League, Amorim added: “First they have to understand the game, then they need to be so much better physically to cope with the high pressure. We need time to work on this.

“They want this. Sometimes they don’t know how to get it. That is my feeling.”

-AFP

Super Eagles’ midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi will have to endure with another manager in the ongoing season following the sacking of Manager, Steve Cooper by Leicester City on Sunday.

The former champions have endured a winless run left them hovering two points above the relegation zone.

A 2-1 home loss to Chelsea, who are managed by their former coach Enzo Maresca, left Leicester 16th in the standings with 10 points after 12 games.

“Leicester City has parted company with Steve Cooper, who leaves his position as first team manager with immediate effect,” the club said in a statement.

“Assistant manager Alan Tate and first team coach and analyst Steve Rands have also left the club. Steve, Alan and Steve depart with our thanks for their contribution during their time with the club and with our best wishes for the future.”

Leicester said first team coach Ben Dawson, and coaches Danny Alcock and Andy Hughes will oversee training until they find a new manager.

Cooper, sacked by Nottingham Forest last season, was appointed by Leicester in June to replace Maresca who had taken the club straight back to the Premier League as they won the Championship.

Leicester began the season with a 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur, but failed to record a win in their opening six league games.

Successive victories over Bournemouth and Southampton last month had eased the pressure somewhat before three defeats in their last four games led to Cooper’s downfall.

A stoppage time penalty from Jordan Ayew in Saturday’s game at home to Chelsea gave them hope of snatching a draw, but another loss proved too much for the club.

Leicester’s next game is away to Brentford on Saturday.

Cooper, 44, is the second Premier League manager to be sacked this season after Manchester United parted ways with Erik ten Hag last month.

Manchester City’s misery continued with a shock 4-0 Premier League rout by Tottenham Hotspur at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, marking the first time in Pep Guardiola’s dazzling managerial career that he has lost five games in a row across all competitions.

James Maddison scored twice in the span of seven first-half minutes, while Pedro Porro netted shortly after the break and Brennan Johnson added a fourth goal deep in added time to end City’s club record run of 52 consecutive home matches unbeaten in all competitions.

City remain second in the table on 23 points but are five points adrift of leaders Liverpool, with the Reds having a game in “In eight years we have never lived this kind of situation. Now we have to live it and break it, winning the next games, especially the next one. Now we see things in one way, maybe in a few weeks we see it differently.”

It was City’s most lopsided loss in their history at Etihad, and their three consecutive league losses are also a first during Guardiola’s eight-plus seasons as boss.

“These are rare days, to come to the champions and especially City considering how they have dominated over the last few years in Europe as well,” Maddison, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Saturday, told Sky Sports.

hand, while Spurs climbed to sixth on 19 points after 12 games.

“In this moment we are fragile defensively,” said Guardiola, who signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday. “We started really well as normal but we could not score and then after that we conceded. After that we conceded some more which is difficult for our emotions right now.

“To come home with four-nil is special, these are the days you remember and I think it’s important we enjoy it.”

Guardiola’s four-time defending champions had 23 shots to Tottenham’s nine and will rue the missed chances, including three in the first half from striker Erling Haaland alone.

But they were all over the place defensively and paid the price in the 13th minute when Maddison sprinted in to side-foot home a beautiful long cross from Dejan Kulusevksi. Maddison doubled the lead seven minutes later when he chipped the ball over grounded goalkeeper Ederson.

Porro put the match out of reach in the 52nd minute when Dominic Solanke cut back the ball for the Spaniard who unleashed a first-time effort past Ederson, and then substitute Johnson added one more in the 93rd minute.

Timo Werner sprinted down the left past Kyle Walker before sending a low cross across the face of the goal that Johnson slid to knock in, watched by City’s shell-shocked fans.

It was the joint-biggest defeat for Guardiola, who had lost 4-0 three previous times, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and with City, in a 4-0 defeat to Everton in 2017.

City last lost a competitive home game by four-plus goals when Arsenal beat them 5-1 in 2003 at Maine Road.

-Reuters