Any port in a storm. Manchester United, who had won only one of their previous six home Premier League games, enjoyed a much-needed win against struggling Ipswich Town on Wednesday at Old Trafford.
United’s forwards are proving to be goal-shy and all three of those goals were scored by defenders: Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire, with an own goal sandwiched in-between.
But it was not a straightforward win. It never is under coach Ruben Amorim. Since the Portuguese took charge in November, United have conceded the first goal in more matches (12) than any other Premier League side.
“Obviously not the best start,” defender De Ligt told The National. “Also a red card first half and 2-2 going into half time, obviously it is not easy. But if you win 3-2, in the end I think it’s a really good performance. It was a show of team spirit.”
New signing Patrick Dorgu was dismissed for a red card tackle on Omari Hutchinson. The £29.4 million January signing was also involved in a mix up with goalkeeper Andre Onana as United conceded after four minutes.
“Yeah, a difficult evening [for Dorgu],” admitted De Ligt, “but everybody has had these evenings before and I think the first goal was a little bit unlucky. It was a miscommunication and that can happen. He’s just new [to the club] and it’s not easy.
“I’ve had in the past several of these moments, so he shouldn’t worry about that. And then the red card, also a little bit unlucky. But for the rest, he played a good first half; he was really energetic and had some good runs in behind, so he will learn from this.”
United, who move up a place in the Premier League to 14th ahead of games against Fulham in the FA Cup and Real Sociedad in the Europa League, went into half time at 2-2 and with 10 men.
Asked what his coach said to the team at the break, De Ligt said: “He said we were still in the game. Obviously we conceded two goals, but I never had the feeling they had so many big chances or like they were getting close to our goal.
“The message was also to keep believing and also to be brave in the second half and I think you could see that immediately with the corner kick that we got, and we scored to make it 3-2, so that was the message.”
United went from enjoying 61 per cent of possession in the first half to 27 per cent in the second after the red card.
“The most important thing was that even with 10 men, we kept pressing and that’s so important for defenders because if the team is pressing it’s so much easier for defenders,” added De Ligt. “The second half you could see that and it makes the job easier for us.”
United are now 16 points clear of the relegation zone, with the three promoted teams seemingly destined for an immediate return to the second tier.
“To be fair, I don’t see it that way,” said the Dutch defender. “I see it more in the way that we are going through a really important phase now, with the FA Cup and Europa League coming up, and obviously the Premier League also.
“This is a really good start to getting to that phase, but we are still in two really important tournaments alongside the Premier League, so I see it as the beginning of the most important phase of the season.”
Old Trafford’s crowd helped on a night of filthy Mancunian weather. “I felt the crowd,” said De Ligt. “Obviously, the start was not the best, but we scored really quickly to make it 1-1, which made a big difference.
“Then 2-1 also came afterwards, so we really felt the crowd pushing us and helping us today, and then you saw the confidence of the players in duels but also taking players on was much better tonight. So hopefully we can keep on going like that.”
It was an occasion when United showed some fighting spirit, to which De Ligt said: “This season, if you saw us play against Liverpool, who are most likely champions of this season.
“If you see us play against [Manchester] City, these kind of games, or Arsenal with 10 men, you see we have a lot of quality and if the spirit is there we can make it difficult for everybody.
“The only thing is sometimes in games we feel a little bit off and we make it so much more difficult for ourselves and it’s an amazing league, so you cannot have a day off. Hopefully we can build on this and get more results.”
Manchester United being this low in the table is not only new to most fans, but the players too. “It’s a really big club,” said De Ligt. “I’ve never had to play for … like we’re now 14th in the standings and the worst I’ve been is fourth, so that’s brand new for me, but you learn a lot from it and today was really important.
“Hopefully we can build on that and give the players more confidence to do it.”
