To follow the claiming of both the major footballer of the year awards by scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United’s first home game was some Bruno Fernandes act, and points to an intent to continue his stellar form of last season.
Ipswich came to scythe through Michael Carrick’s side via the pace of Julio Enciso, Issa Diop and Daizen Maeda, and when Leif Davis gave them a 29th-minute lead victory looked on.
However, the contest turned with Marcelino Núñez’s slip as the break neared. Suddenly Fernandes was rifling in a left-foot bullet and from this point on United cuffed Gary O’Neil’s team aside.
In 12 second-half minutes United scored three times – the first a somewhat contentious Jacob Greaves own goal, the next a penalty and a close-range finish from Fernandes strikes that made it three for the day for him. Bryan Mbeumo made it five from range on 82 minutes.
Carrick was emphatic that the pathetic 2-0 downing at Hull last week was “just one game” and he was proved correct – at least going forward. But Davis’s opener was derived from holes being punched in the rearguard, and Ipswich’s added-time consolation came from sloppy defending by Lisandro Martínez that allowed Ensico to set up Chuba Akpom.
But having the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Player of the Year leading the side is a definite boon. If Fernandes shines so, too, usually do United.
The Hull horror show caused Carrick to make four changes. Out went Ayden Heaven, Noussair Mazraoui, Andrey Santos and Patrick Dorgu; in came Martínez, Diogo Dalot, Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford, who was starting a league game for United for the first time since 1 December 2024 when he scored twice here in a 4-0 win against Everton.
Operating in his favoured wide-left berth, Rashford took a first shot that deflected into Kjell Scherpen’s hands. Then Ipswich’s No 1 gazed skywards as Matheus Cunha’s effort sailed high, the chance made by Rashford’s dribble and lay-off.
Ipswich’s fine opening-day win against Sunderland convinced O’Neil to retain the same starting XI, and after also knocking Leicester out of the Carabao Cup in midweek with a much changed team, they were in a buoyant mood.
Their challenge was to end a run of seven league games against United without a win; Maeda’s blistering run down the left and cross gave us a clue regarding how they planned to do so.
Enciso then careered 60 yards towards Senne Lammens in a footrace with Mbeumo and Luke Shaw. This came after Rashford’s loose ball could be hacked upfield; United’s left-back and right winger did well not to foul the Paraguayan, so, too, Lammens when saving his attempt. From the rebound United broke instantly in a foray that featured Rashford seeing the ball slide agonisingly past as he sought to poke home, and Fernandes’s effort being blocked.
The tempo was high, the speed of thought similar. Davis’s knifing ball cut United apart, Maeda raced forward, and Lammens flew left to tip away a goal-bound shot.
Now came jubilant cries of “one-nil to the Tractor Boys” as Ipswich scored an excellent opener that Shaw will not want to see again. Along the right, Diop ghosted past the defender and picked out the lurking Davis who rifled in off the bar to leave Carrick turning and shaking his head. Shaw’s sluggishness was emblematic of a soporific backline. Another example came when Davis was, again, free to take aim; Lammens saved the header but the alarm clanged.
So Ipswich, in the ascendancy, should not slip up – which is precisely what Núñez did inside United territory. Cunha put in the sprinting Fernandes, who left Scherpen a statue.
After half-time, United exerted control. Rat-a-tat-tat went a sequence that involved Mainoo, Youri Tielemans and Fernandes that moved them into the penalty area. This impressed, as did a leaping Rashford who turned Dalot’s diagonal back across goal only for Mbeumo to hit the bar.
Carrick’s team had transformed from a bitty side to a more flowing one. The net result: two goals that pulled them into a 3-1 lead.
A cohesive attack finished with Harry Maguire’s shot rebounding in off Greaves’ foot. Maguire’s hands contacted the ball in the movement that brought it under control yet the video assistant referee ruled this legal, as it was accidental.
Ipswich, dizzied, now conceded a penalty. Slick Mainoo work released Cunha and, as he entered the area, Greaves brought him down, earning himself a yellow card. Fernandes swept home from the spot, beating Scherpen to the keeper’s right.
Fernandes’s third arrived in the 66th minute. Mainoo and Mbeumo saw shots repelled before the captain, benefiting from a ricochet, racked up his team’s fourth – and his hat-trick – with aplomb, scoring in the far right corner.
As cascading rain showed up the leak in the roof over the Stretford End, Mbeumo delighted the fans behind Ipswich’s goal at that end by lobbing the on-rushing Scherpen from about 40 yards.
Now came Martínez’s blunder but after lightning the downpour ceased, and the referee, Craig Pawson’s, final whistle was greeted by applause.
