5 Things we learned from Man United’s thrilling win over Ipswich town
That’s more like it from Carrick’s men. I said after last weeks disaster against Hull that I hoped that it was a blip of a performance and I think the second half today would have gave huge encouragement to me and many other United fans, both teams had plenty of chances in the first half but it was Ipswich who opened the scoring in the 29th minute as Abdul Fatawu rinsed Luke Shaw on the right-wing before crossing to Leif Davies who met the ball perfectly on the half-volley to give Gary O’Neill’s side a stunning lead at Old Trafford. It looked like they would take that lead into half-time but a slip from Marcelino Nunez on the half-way line gave the ball to Matheus Cunha who found Bruno Fernandes in behind who fired a missile past Kjell Scherpen at the near-post to equalise on the stroke of half-time, United had to improve in the second half and they came out with a point to prove piling the pressure on Ipswich which eventually led the home side going in front in the 56th minute as Harry Maguire’s shot was deflected into his own net by Jacob Greaves. There was a VAR check as Maguire quite clearly handled the ball prior to shooting but because the shot was off-target VAR couldn’t intervene, United had all the momentum and grabbed a third five minutes later after some magical play by Kobbie Mainoo had Matheus Cunha through on goal who was taken out by Jacob Greaves in the box. Bruno Fernandes stepped up and coolly slotted past Scherpen to put United 3-1 up, as if things couldn’t get worse for Ipswich just a few minutes later United added a fourth as Mbeumo’s shot was blocked by Davies but straight to Bruno Fernandes to complete his hat-trick. Then ten minutes before the end of the game Bruno Fernandes played a majestic ball over the top to Bryan Mbeumo who saw Scherpen coming off his line and lobbed the ball over the Dutchman to add a fifth for United, Ipswich did grab a consolation in added time after Lisandro Martinez was caught on the ball by Enciso who rolled the ball to Chuba Akpom to grab his first Premier League goal of the season. An excellent second half from United to get their season underway,
That’s more like the United I want to see. The starting 11 was much more like it from Carrick bringing in Dalot, Mainoo, Rashford and Martinez which saw Carrick’s team look far better in possession compared to last week but they just couldn’t find the opener in the first half despite going close from the likes of Rashford and Cunha, the Ipswich opener was a bad one with Luke Shaw getting ran past by Fatawu which shows yet again that United need a left-back but they reset at half-time after getting lucky with Nunez’s slip for the equaliser and looked really good in the second half. They flew out of the blocks and should have taken the lead just minutes into the half with Mbeumo somehow missing from about a yard out hitting the bar but that set the tone for a United onslaught which eventually led to four goals in the second half, Bruno Fernandes will rightly so get all the plaudits but Kobbie Mainoo was the best player on the pitch for me. After getting 0 minutes at the World Cup it would have been easy for Mainoo to sulk at the start of this season after yet again getting overlooked by an egotistical manager but he looks right at the top of his game to kick off this season and I cannot wait to see him and Baleba play together, Bruno Fernandes yet again showed why he was player of the season last year running the show in the second half grabbing his third hat-trick in a United shirt along with a ridiculous assist to Mbeumo for the fifth goal. Marcus Rashford came back into the team for the first time since December 2024 and I thought he looked really good out on the left-wing but maybe that’s because Dorgu scarred me last week, I think Rashford’s going to have a really good season under Carrick this year. Overall it was so important that United picked up three points today but also with a good performance, lets hope we see more of the same next week against Everton.
A tough second half for Ipswich but plenty of positives to take. For 45 minutes you could definitely make the argument that Ipswich were the better side and well worthy of the lead in the first half but Nunez’s slip was so costly at the end of the first half and set United up perfectly for the second half where they blew away the newly promoted side, there were times in the first half I thought I was watching Zidane play for Ipswich but it was Enciso wearing the number 10 doing roulettes in midfield and running rings around United at times. He was by some distance the best player on the pitch in the first half but did run out of steam in the second which was part of why Ipswich fell apart, the other positive for Ipswich was Kjell Scherpen in goal who despite conceding five goals looked really assured in the between the sticks and at 6ft 9 looks like a monster in the box. Defensively obviously Ipswich were a shambles in the second half between the likes of Greaves and O’Shea so that’s something Gary O’Neil will have to look at ahead of playing Liverpool on Friday, I wouldn’t mind them bouncing back in that one.
When will people start showing Bruno Fernandes the respect he deserves. If winning the PFA player of the season doesn’t do it I’m not sure what will but Fernandes yet again showed today why he is one of the best players in the league, I have to listen to people whine and moan about Bruno only playing 40 games, not playing important games etc which is ridiculous considering it’s a Premier League award and he’s shown over the last six years that he’s more than capable of playing every single game when United are playing in four competitions like in the 22/23 season when he played the most minutes out of anyone in Europe. My favourite part of his game today was the pass to Mbeumo which I don’t think anyone else in the league could do spinning around before lobbing the ball right over the top of the Ipswich back-line in the pouring rain to set the Cameroonian up for his first goal of the season, playing with attackers who can actually put the ball in the net has upped his game over the past year and I think we are watching the best version of Bruno Fernandes in a United shirt. Lets hope he continues that form over the rest of the season.
Any more business to do before the window ends? For United I would be perplexed if we didn’t bring in a left-back over next two days, at this point it almost certainly won’t be a starter but surely they have to bring in someone as Luke Shaw is unreliable at the best of times. Joshua Zirkzee has been linked with a move away all summer to the Serie A whether that’s Juventus or Fiorentina but it’ll most likely be a loan if he goes at all which I don’t think is ideal, there’s definitely a player there so we’ll see if he does go back to Italy in the next two days. For Ipswich we saw Exequiel Palacios make his debut off the bench in the second half who is their record signing so I’m not sure we’ll see anyone else come through the door in the next 48 hours or so, they could probably do with a right-back considering Dara O’Shea looked completely lost out there at times in the second half so maybe they’ll try to get one through the door who can play that position. It’s gonna be a wild couple of days in the window so keep your seatbelt fastened, all eyes turn to Villa Park for Aston Villa vs Arsenal tomorrow. Should be a good one.