Ruben Amorim admitted that he found it difficult to see his Manchester United side perform as we did in the second half of our victory over Ipswich Town.

After a non-stop first half, where we looked set to go in with a slender lead, we instead had to contend with parity in the scoreline and a man disadvantage at the interval.

Patrick Dorgu’s dismissal moments before the break for a challenge on Omari Hutchinson was compounded by another setback in first-half stoppage time when Jaden Philogene scored his side’s second goal to equalise.

However, Harry Maguire scored the game’s decisive goal within two minutes of the restart, and United performed in resolute fashion from there to prevent our visitors from having almost any opportunities to get back into the game.

But our head coach had mixed feelings about how we had to go about getting the three points when it was put to him in his post-match press conference that he would perhaps like his players to set up in a more pro-active fashion.

Ruben also addressed his thoughts on our set-piece prowess on the night, plus Alejandro Garnacho’s first-half withdrawal and a host of other topics in his debrief with the media.

Keep reading for all of the boss’s quotes below…

Watch Amorim’s press conference Video

POST-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE | Garnacho and set-pieces were topics of conversation in Ruben’s media briefing…

Ruben, congratulations. After a difficult week at the football club, do you take satisfaction not just from the win, but the fact that you’ve provided the supporters with an entertaining game?

“I think this is really important, well-deserved by the fans. The support was amazing. I felt that since the day one, they just want to see a team fight until the end, no matter what the situation, and I think we did that today. And you have that feeling of connection with the fans. All the things in the game was against us and we fight through that and it was a good win for us.”

Hi, Ruben, congratulations on the win also. When you took Alejandro off, what was the thinking behind that, and did he have permission to go into the dressing room as well?

“It was cold and wet, maybe. The thinking was that we were playing more in the 5-3-1. I know that is a risk because you are taking [off] maybe the only player now that has one against one [quality] and pace. But I felt the team was okay and controlling of the game almost in the half-time and then we make the substitution and we have to choose someone to go out, we have to think about set pieces also, so that was my choice.”

It must be very pleasing that if you’ve thought about set-pieces, you’ve got three goals from those as well.

“Yes, and we talk about that many times here when we were suffering goals, and you talk about Carlos [Fernandes] and change with Andreas [Georgson], we are in the same team, and today they win the game for us, so the credit for them.”

Hi, Ruben, I just want to talk a bit more about the set-pieces. Did you imagine when you took over that that would be such a big threat for the team?

“No, it was one thing that I felt here is completely different than if you play abroad; the contact with the defenders, especially with the goalkeepers. So we adapt, and I think we are improving the way we defend but also the way we attack set-pieces, and like today, changed the game.”

De Ligt: It was a hard-fought win Video

Goalscorer Matthijs de Ligt reviews a positive result for a ‘scoring, fighting’ United at home to Ipswich…

You played with 10 men for a long time tonight, the same as against Arsenal in the FA Cup, Liverpool at Anfield as well was another good performance. I know that your idea is probably to play more proactive football eventually, but do you think the players are perhaps more comfortable being on the back foot at the moment and playing that way.

“I think that is clear, it is hard for me. So sometimes it’s like you are fighting and thats why I make that analysis also, when we are together, if we have players like Harry Maguire and Matta [Matthijs] de Ligt defending the box, they are really strong, but then when they have to cover a lot of space, the game changes for them. So I know that, but I have to not just think about now, of course we need to survive, but it is really hard for me to play like we play in the second half. But I feel the players are more comfortable sometimes defending in the low block.”

Great to win tonight, but how much have you got to improve and where have you got to improve if you’re going to get anything out of this season?

“We have to improve in every aspect. We lack some characteristics in our squad to play in the different way. We need to have more possession and I felt that today we were more calm with the ball, especially in the beginning and especially after we suffer the first goal, I think Bruno was really important on that. Sometimes we want Bruno higher in the pitch to be near the goal, but sometimes we need Bruno also building up and I think he was really good on that todayl because he’s really confident with the ball no matter what the context. We clearly need to create more chances and especially we need to score goals, I think that is a big issue in our team and when we think in the future, we need to address that.”

And no more horrible starts – I mean, that was a awful start.

“Yeah. It was the same, but sometimes you have… Everybody when they watch that ball were thinking: ‘Here we again.’ But then sometimes football is like that. We managed to fight all the situations during the game and I think we truly deserved the three points today.”

Can you just clarify, you’re not unhappy with Alejandro Garnacho for going down the tunnel?

“You are making a connection with Rashford, right?”

No, I’m just asking.

“Yeah, I know, I know. I’m not… What I’m saying is I’m going to talk obviously with Garnacho about that. So I will talk about that if you want in the next press conference.”

And just on Onana, what do you think of him as a goalkeeper? Because maybe it wasn’t his fault the first goal, but the second one, he seems to have that in his locker, these mistakes.

“I know, it’s… We have to work on that. So, of course, we need to improve, not just Andre, but we have so many problems. If you see a lot of players in some games make some mistakes that are important in the result of that game. So I don’t want to point just for one player, we need to improve as a team.”

How is Patrick, Ruben? It’s difficult, it’s obviously his [home] Premier League debut, a young player, it was difficult.

“The first situation I think when you look ,he is looking at the ball, when he look at Andre and then look at the ball, and when he look at the ball, Andre jumps for the ball, it was a misunderstanding the way they connect [with] each other. And then the sending off, the important thing is that I know Dorgu quite well, he doesn’t want to harm anybody and that is important for me. And then you have this situation, he had that mistake and then you feel in the game he was making a lot of runs, trying to win every ball, being aggressive and sometimes you over-do it.”

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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim was more than pleased with his side’s efforts in overcoming Ipswich Town 3-2 in an entertaining Premier League encounter.

The Reds were good value for the narrow victory, despite going down to 10 men in the first half when Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu was sent off.

Harry Maguire’s header proved the difference after the break and the dogged display, appreciated by the Old Trafford crowd, yielded three important points to lift morale in advance of Sunday’s Emirates FA Cup tie against Fulham.

ENCOURAGING STUFF

“It’s really good for a coach to see that. It’s one thing passing that moment to have a performance like this, when the performance is like this, it’s not perfect, but we suffer a goal with one mistake. In this context, I felt that the team were more calm than in certain games. That’s a good thing. We turned things around, scored twice and were clearly in control. Then we had the sending off and had to fight for the three points. Today was a good performance in all aspects for my team and also our fans. They were amazing.”

MORE IN CONTROL

“I enjoyed the performance and the way we managed all the things against us. I felt the team were strangely more in control in possession than in other games with 11 players. Football is like that sometimes. You get surprises. We defended in the second half and tried to make some transitions to win the game.”

THE OPENING GOAL

“I think it is something that happen, even with other players. It was like Patrick, when he looked, he saw Andre Onana on the goal but then looked down and made the pass and Andre was already out. A misunderstanding.”

THE RED CARD

“I didn’t see it. The important thing is I know my player and he doesn’t want to injure a colleague in his profession. He wants to play the ball. Maybe it was a little bit harsh in the way he went for the ball. I didn’t see the image so I have to see it. But clearly he’s ready for the Premier League. He’s inexperienced but people judge right away. Last week, he was okay and had a good performance against Everton. Today, you say he’s not experienced enough. We have central defenders who are very good defending the box and we saw already [with ten men] against Arsenal and Wolverhampton, when we were so near to drawing game, today we managed to score so the result was very good.”

THE FANS LOVE TO SEE US FIGHT

“The fans are amazing. They’ve been suffering a lot of years but especially this season. They just want to see their team fight. I think, with our fans, it’s more easy to feel love from them when they just want to see the team fight and that is what we are supposed to do in every match.”

ON TO FULHAM 

“I just focus on the next game. It’s really important for us to establish a little bit in the table. We need to survive this season and enjoy every game that we win and prepare for the next one.”

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