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11 hours ago
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Key events
55 min Ipswich even get a corner, though nothing comes of it…
53 min “It’s a United siege now,” says the commentator. It’s certainly ping-pong in the box as Mainoo has a shot, possibly two, but Ipswich swith theiree off the danger with some quick wits and firm blocks.
52 min Mbeumo, slipped in by Fernandes, bustles into the box before picking the wrong pass. Then Rashford sends in a left-foot volleyed cross which Mbeumo has to score from – but he hits the bar!
50 min Sure enough, the first shot of the half comes from Enciso, who hits it over the bar from 25 yards. “He’s been the best player on the pitch,” says Gary Neville.
48 min United pass the ball around, harmlessly. Ipswich have less of the ball but use it more purposefully. They have the air of a team whose manager has just told them they can win this.
47 min United kick off, but Ipswich start sharply and Enciso wins a free kick off Cunha.
“As a United fan,” says David Flynn, “I feel like commentators and journalists are under some sort of mass psychosis when it comes to Marcus Rashford. He has spent his entire United career being massively inconsistent, more often than not playing poorly and there’s absolutely no evidence that has changed.
“He might very well score a hat trick today but the one thing you can be sure of is that there’s a ten month goal drought in his future. I think the press needs to accept that and stop getting excited when he starts.”
More often than not playing poorly? That’s quite a harsh view of a player who had scored about 130 goals in 400 games for United before turning 27. And who, as he has (gently) pointed out himself, has had to cope with inconsistent management – from Van Gaal to Mourinho to Solskjaer to Rangnick to Ten Hag to Amorim and now Carrick, who seems to have handled him well so far. Rashford has been bright today, for what it’s worth.
Time for a glance at the post. “United fan here,” wrote Joshua Keeling about 20 minutes ago. “Can’t wait to see who this season’s caretaker manager will be.” Ouch!
“They can spend a much as they want on their midfield and attack,” says Matthew Lysaght, “but persisting with any or all of Maguire/Dalot/Shaw makes that expenditure null and void.” You may be right, but one of them went to the World Cup and the other two were unlucky to be rebuffed by Thomas Tuchel.
“Hey Tim,” says Alan Steenstrup in Querétaro, Mexico. “You wrote: ‘As expected, Carrick has Mbeumo on the right, Mbeumo in the middle and Rashford on the left.’ A bit of multi-talking for Mbeumo, if anyone can, he can.” Good line! Sorry, I meant Cunha in the middle. He’s been better today than at Hull, though Sesko’s height will be handy, when he comes on, in the face of Scherpen.
HALF-TIME! Man United 1-1 Ipswich
It’s been a lively half, packed with action at both ends. Ipswich were very good for ten minutes in the middle and led through a classy shot from Leif Davis. But then Marcelino Nunez slipped on the damp, relaid turf and allowed Matheus Cunha to start a counter that ended with an equally fine finish from Bruno Fernandes.
45+1 min We’re into the first of two added minutes. Dalot’s shot takes a deflection and brings a corner, but all United get out of that is a throw-in or two … until Lisandro Martinez takes a long shot, crisply struck but too high.
42 min Buoyed by the goal, Fernandes brings out a back-heel (which doesn’t find its target). Then Tielemans goes down inside the box, the crowd roar for a penalty… and the ref refuses to play ball. It may have been a foul by O’Shea, but the dying fall was too theatrical to be convincing.
42 min We’ve seen that goal before from Carrick’s United, but usually it’s Fernandes playing the pass and Mbeumo supplying the finish.
GOAL!! Man United 1-1 Ipswich (Fernandes 40)
Nunez slips in midfield, Cunha breaks away on the counter and slips it to Fernandes, who blasts a left-foot shot past Scherpen.
38 min Fernandes tries a short-corner routine but messes it up by passing straight to a defender. Rashford manages a cross, only to see it gobbled up by the giant Scherpen.
37 min Another foul, and it’s an ugly one. Fatawu goes sliding in on Mbeumo and gets a booking. He may be in trouble with the Union of Right-Wingers too.
36 min Ipswich, by the way, haven’t won at Old Trafford since 1984.
35 min United’s turn to commit a gratuitous foul as Harry Maguire manhandles Emersonn near the halfway line. Tielemans is then caught napping, but United see off the danger.
34 min Sasa Lukic, who’s been a big presence in midfield, brings down Tielemans when he doesn’t need to, and gets a yellow card.
33 min The cameras find Michael Carrick looking pensive, as well he may. Are United disintegrating again in the face of a promoted team with a bit of spirit?
31 min Chance for Ipswich: Davis again! It’s another fine cross from Fatawu. Davis, perhaps surprised to find himself getting all these openings, shoots a bit limply at point-blank range.
GOAL! Man United 0-1 Ipswich (Davis 29)
It’s last weekend all over again! Fatawu surges down the right wing, shrugs off Shaw and crosses to Davis, whose finish goes in off the bar.
28 min Another minute, another United attack. Mbeumo curls in a cross from the right which is just too high for Fernandes and Rashford, coming in at the far post.
27 min “United’s midfield were criticised for not being positive enough last week,” Gary Neville says, “and they’ve been better here, Mainoo and Fernandes linking well.”
26 min Fernandes takes it himself and hits it into the wall.
25 min United spring forward andf again Ipswich resort to a foul as Maeda trips Cunha. This free kick is five yards closer than the last one.
24 min It’s been a lovely open game with the crowd in good voice. But they may get antsy soon, as United still haven’t scored this season.
23 min More xG for Ipswich! Leif Davis flies down the left, collects a pinpoint through ball and sees his shot well saved by Lammens.
20 min United have had six shots, Ipswich only one (that tame one from Maeda evidently didn’t trouble the scorers), but when the xG flashed up just now, it was 0.34-0.23 to the Tractor Boys.
20 min Fernandes leaves the free kick to Rashford, who has scored with a free kick in El Clasico since he was last seen at Old Trafford. He hits it well but just over.
19 min Kobbie Mainoo has started brightly too. He wins a free kick about 30 yards out in the middle.
18 min Martinez, recalled partly for his passing, sends a piercing ball to Shaw, who is very well tackled by Jacob Greaves.
16 min Fernandes looks himself again after a couple of flat performances (and two missed pens). But the other No 10, Enciso, looks just as incisive.
16 min Shaw’s through ball finds Fernandes, who can’t quite bring it under control. It turns out he was offside anyway.
14 min Big chance for Ipswich! They break from the corner and Enciso holds off Shaw and Mbeumo to get a shot away, well saved by Lammens. Then the ball goes up the other end, where Rashford is inches away from sliding in to meet Cunha’s low cross.
12 min Save! By Scherpen from Dalot, who curled a classy left-foot shot towards the top corner. It was a flowing move from United that involved both wingers.
11 min Ipswich attack again. As a cross comes in from the left, Martinez can’t reach it and Shaw has to bail him out with a header.
7 min Maeda sees that run and more than matches it, tearing down the left and landing the first shot on target, which is too tame to trouble Lammens.
6 min Cunha passes to Rashford, who goes on a slalom before returning the compliment. Cunha’s shot is always going over.
6 min The first shot is taken by … Rashford, from distance, but it’s half-blocked by an Ipswich foot and loops up kindly for Scherpen, the giant in their goal.
5 min United pass the ball around at the back before Martinez hits it out. Gary O’Neil must have been tempted to play a back five, after seeing United struggle to cope with Hull’s wing-backs, but it seems to be a back four .
4 min Rashford has now gone more minutes without a goal today than he did when he last faced Ipswich: he scored after 2 min in Ruben Amorim’s first game as manager, which ended in a draw.
3 min As expected, Carrick has Mbeumo on the right, Mbeumo in the middle and Rashford on the left. Rashford makes his first run now, but is well marshalled by O’Shea I think.
1 min Ipswich kick off, head over to their right and run into Luke Shaw, who bundles the ball out. They’re in off-white with black shorts: have they borrowed United’s third kit?
Lisandro Martinez lost only one game of the 13 he started last season, apparently. Fun fact: he’s not the only Argentinian here with a World Cup medal – Exequiel Palacios has just joined Ipswich and he’s on the bench.
Out come the players, some of them holding babes in arms – including Marcus Rashford, who has a big smile on his face.
The first email of the afternoon comes from Dave. “Hi Tim, loving the MBM.” Thanks! “Just wondered if there’s any insight into why Sesko seems to find it so hard to get a start.”
At the moment he’s coming back from injury – he was understandably rusty when he came on for the last half-hour at Hull. But it’s true that Carrick has sometimes had him on the bench by choice. There was a spell in the new year when Sesko was United’s best super-sub since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
A bit of change at Old Trafford, too. The turf has been relaid, for the first time in 14 years. So not even Luke Shaw was there when it last happened.
Here’s Gary O’Neil, being asked about Ipswich’s fine start against Sunderland. “It gave everyone a nice boost,” he says. “Lot of change, obviously… This is a real tough test for us, but one that the group are ready for. We’ve worked really hard over the past eight weeks.”
It’s full time in the 2pm games. Chelsea have beaten Brighton 4-3 in a game that wasn’t quite as close as it sounds. Leeds and Brentford have drawn 1-1, and Sunderland have bucked the trend I mentioned by beating Fulham 1-0 after losing last weekend.
So Fulham join Palace, Coventry and Spurs on nul points after two games, while Chelsea emulate Man City and the mighty Hull in starting with successive wins. Do join John Brewin for more.
How bad were United last weekend? The result was a shocker, and so was the defending at set pieces –but they didn’t concede in open play, did create plenty of chances and led their manager to say that they “did some good things”. For United Writing, the free microsite I run with Rob Smyth, I tried to weigh up the good, the bad and the ugly.
It will be interesting to see how United’s front three line up. Bryan Mbeumo started most of the pre-season games at centre-forward and was probably United’s best player, along with Mason Mount. But because Amad had to pull out of the Hull game with injury, Mbeumo went back to the right wing, and Matheus Cunha started as a deep-lying, if not quite false, 9. Rashford has played more often in the middle for United than either of them, but the chances are that he’ll start on the left, where he offers more width (and pace) than Cunha.
Teams in full: four changes for United, none for Ipswich
Gary O’Neil reverts to his first XI and sees no reason to change a winning team.
Man United (4-2-3-1) Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Tielemans, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha.
Subs: Darlow, Mazraoui, Yoro, Martinez, Santos, Lacey, Zirkzee, Dorgu, Sesko.
Ipswich (4-2-3-1) Scherpen; O’Shea, Diop, Greaves, Davis; Nunez, Lukic; Fatawu, Enciso, Maeda; Emersonn.
Subs: Walton, Furlong, Egeli, Kipre, Palacios, Ouattara, McAteer, Clarke, Akpom.
Rashford starts!
Marcus Rashford, who came on at half-time last weekend and played more key passes in 45 minutes than Bruno Fernandes managed in 90, is rewarded with his first start since he was frozen out by Ruben Amorim in December 2024. He replaces Patrick Dorgu on the left. Michael Carrick also shakes up his defence, bringing in Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez, and in midfield Andrey Santos gives way to Kobbie Mainoo.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to the Arnold Mühren derby. It’s a game that looms larger now than it did before the season began. Then, it seemed like a surprising choice for the Sunday-teatime slot, but since last weekend it has looked rather shrewd. Ipswich hit the ground running with a win over Sunderland, while Manchester United slipped on a banana skin at Hull.
Michael Carrick still has his proud record of winning two-thirds of his matches as United boss (in both his stints). And one of the things his team did well last season was bouncing back from disappointment. After losing at Newcastle, they beat Villa at Old Trafford; after losing to Leeds at home, they went to Chelsea and won.
Gary O’Neil, though, has a 100pc record as manager of Ipswich – played two, won two. He made nine changes for the League Cup game against Leicester and still emerged with a 3-1 win. His first XI, now featuring Julio Enciso and Sasa Lukic, come to Old Trafford with nothing to lose.
As I write this, at half-time in the 2pm games, no club in the Premier League have lost their first match of the season and won their second (or taken the lead today). Can United change that? They badly need to, with a Manchester derby looming and an October fixture list that includes trips to Atletico Madrid, Leeds, Como and Chelsea.
For Ipswich, it’s the first of three games against the big names in 17 days. The other two are at Portman Road: Liverpool in the league on Friday and Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on 15 September. So this is just a warm-up.
Back soon with the teams.
