Manchester United 3-2 Ipswich Town: Maguire heads winner for 10 men

Manchester United’s ability to create mayhem from nothing is incredible.

After a terrible week off the pitch, with chief executive Omar Berrada confirming on Monday up to 200 members of staff could lose their jobs and Amorim’s criticism of a team that ‘didn’t turn up’ for 70 minutes at Goodison Park, it should have been automatic the home players would be fully focussed from the first whistle.

To concede so quickly the way they did was simply staggering.

As Dorgu hurtled back to catch a long punt downfield, Onana had a couple of options. He could either yell at his new team-mate to get out of the way so he could tidy up, or he could back off anticipating a back pass.

Instead, he got far too close. If there was communication, it didn’t get through, Dorgu passed the ball past him and Philogene tapped into an empty net. It was pure comedy gold, unless you were in Amorim’s shoes, in which case it was like a recurring disaster movie.

However, there are straws for Amorim to clutch at.

As at Goodison Park, United rallied. Here, they even played with a degree of cohesion and balance, at least until Dorgu, who looks like the answer to that problematic left-sided wing back slot, recklessly charged into a tackle that rules him out of three games, starting with Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie with Fulham.

Two first-half goals, after one in their previous 17 games, was also reason to celebrate – and something they did not manage against Southampton or Leicester in this stadium earlier this month.

In addition, United are clearly a danger at set pieces now, as they scored three goals from a set play in a Premier League game for the first time since September 2016 against Leicester.

There are clearly deficiencies though. Rasmus Hojlund still can’t score – although the Dane worked hard. And Onana must improve.