Four things we learnt as United fight tooth and nail to secure valiant three points against Ipswich

Manchester United welcomed Ipswich Town to Old Trafford looking for a much-needed three points.

Andre Onana started in goal with Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro forming the back three.

Patrick Dorgu began the match at left wing-back with Diogo Dalot lining up on the right hand side.

Captain Bruno Fernandes moved further back to partner fellow weekend goalscorer Manuel Ugarte in the midfield.

Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund were the front three.

Here are four things we learnt from the match.

United continue poor starts

There has been much discussion over United’s inability to score goals in the first half and how their poor starts have consistently put them on the back foot.

Ruben Amorim’s side would have hoped for a solid start where they could put pressure on the visitors’ goal, but they did exactly the opposite.

A ridiculous mix-up between Andre Onana and Patrick Dorgu after just four minutes resulted in Jaden Philogene having all the time in the world to roll the ball into an empty net.

The Red Devils have many problems to solve but they cannot seriously expect to improve until they begin to start games in a professional way that their fans expect, especially at Old Trafford.

Set pieces are finally working for United

United and set pieces hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons earlier in the season when it seemed that they would concede a goal every game from a free kick or corner.

Lately, they have been much more threatening from an attacking perspective and getting much joy from this area of the game.

Fernandes scored a wonderful free kick against Everton at the weekend and he played a key role in both of United’s first half goals.

The captain whipped in a fierce ball into the box which was headed into his own net by Sam Morsy.

A few moments later, his deep corner kick eventually resulted in De Ligt scoring the home side’s second of the match.

Harry Maguire powerfully headed in United’s third of the match thanks again to a corner from Fernandes that was right on the money for yet another assist for the team’s talisman.

Onana can no longer be defended

Every fan wants to defend and support their players and many stuck with Onana much longer than he probably deserved.

The Cameroonian started the season in good form but his level has sunk to record lows this calendar year.

He made two disastrous mistakes versus Brighton and Hove Albion last month and was at it again versus Ipswich tonight.

Whilst the first goal was also very much of Dorgu’s making, he had no need to come racing out and put the 20 year old under such pressure.

The second goal was very much on his own poor positioning which seems to be exploited on a regular basis by United’s opposition.

All in all, it means Amorim and United have another very big decision to make in the summer over the former Inter Milan player’s future.

United finally show some fight

When the home side trudged down the tunnel at half-time after just conceding and going down to ten men, Old Trafford probably feared the worst.

Nonetheless, Maguire’s goal shortly after the re-start was just the start of United’s impressive fightback.

The players ran themselves into the ground and were led by the tireless work of Fernandes and Ugarte in the midfield.

There was a moment late in the match when Liam Delap fouled Ugarte three times and his teammates ran to his defence and showed the unity they will need to dig themselves out of the hole they currently find themselves in.

Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images

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