Viktoria Plzen vs Man Utd LIVE: Europa League score and updates as Red Devils try to get back on track
Ruben Amorim’s side look to bounce back from consecutive defeats with an away clash in Europe
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United travel to the Czech Republic to face Viktoria Plzen in tonight’s Europa League action hoping to respond to two consecutive defeats under Ruben Amorim.
After a promising start to his tenure, the Red Devils suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest leaving the Portuguese boss facing his first dip in form. But Amorim will be confident, especially about improving United’s standing in the Europa League despite the clube being embroiled in off-field drama.
Consecutive wins over PAOK and Bodo/Glimt have sent the team up to 12th in the league table and they are only two points away from fourth with a realistic chance of securing automatic promotion.
Their opponents tonight have an identical record to United with two wins and three draws from their first five games and sit one place below Amorim’s side meaning they would jump ahead of United should they triumph.
Follow all the Europa League action with our live blog below:
Viktoria Plzen vs Man Utd
Here come the teams.
Bruno Fernandes leads out the Manchester United team with the desire and determination in his eyes. Ruben Amorim’s side have lost their last two games but they’ll hope to banish some familiar mistakes tonight.
Rasmus Hojlund knows Man Utd have to improve
Rasmus Hojlund said he felt “quite devastated” after “irritating goals” and a poor all-round display cost Manchester United in the home loss to Nottingham Forest.
Head coach Ruben Amorim this week hit his first bumps in the road having made a positive start to life at Old Trafford, with Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Arsenal compounded as they lost 3-2 on Saturday.
Nikola Milenkovic exposed United’s recent set-piece issues by heading Forest ahead inside 90 seconds, with Hojlund levelling during a fightback that ended early in the second half.
We all need to do better – Rasmus Hojlund knows Man Utd have to improve
The Red Devils have lost their last two games.
‘It’s a huge challenge'
“It’s a huge challenge and a chance to compete against a team of such quality,” says Pavel Sulc, who scored in the Czech club’s 2-1 win against Dynamo Kyiv. “At the same time, it’s a boyhood dream come true.”
Viktoria Plzen vs Man Utd
Plzen have conceded just once in their last 12 European home games, Real Sociedad’s strike in their 2-1 loss in Czechia on Matchday 3 ending an 11-game run of continental clean sheets.
Is winning Europa League the best way to get Champions League football?
Ruben Amorim was asked this question in his pre-match press conference and replied: “I as a coach I cannot focus on just that. The way we can see in the future, titles or something. Our goal is to win our Premier League. That is our goal.
“Of course you can do the math and you can understand that for a big club like us to be in the Champions League is so important. You can see and look at the table that from the Europa League, maybe it is easier.
“You can then perhaps take this information for this context but I am not focused on that and our goal is to win the Premier League, not just to go to the Champions League.
“To go [to] the Champions League is an important point to win the Premier League, that is really clear. But for me, the most important thing is to win and to see something different in the team in every game.”
Ruben Amorim rues lack of ‘heart’ in Man Utd loss to Nottingham Forest
Ruben Amorim rued Manchester United’s lack of ‘quality’ and ‘heart’ during a 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford with the result United’s first home defeat to Forest in 30 years.
The head coach also urged players and supporters to trust the process as he pledged to turn things around like he did at Sporting Lisbon.
Erik ten Hag’s successor enjoyed a promising start to life in the hotseat, but repeatedly attempted to manage expectations as wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton followed a draw at Ipswich.
Ruben Amorim rues lack of ‘heart’ in Man Utd loss to Nottingham Forest
Amorim warned that a storm was not far away and so it proved in the last five days.
Onana errors not to blame
Ruben Amorim refused to blame Andre Onana for a couple of mistakes which led to goals against Nottingham Forest and claimed that the team need to help out the goalkeeper.
He said: “Onana already saved us a lot of times, so we have to find a way when this happens to Onana or to Altay (Bayindir) or to Tom (Heaton).
“We have to turn around and to score two goals to help our goalkeeper, the same way that he saves us, for example, in Ipswich. We have to continue. We lose as a team, we have to improve in all aspects of the game.”
Amorim needs time to address United’s faults
The Portuguese boss said that it would take time to address all of United’s faults. After the defeat to Forest he said: “We already knew (it would be tough). It will be a long journey, but we want to win because this is a massive club.
“You feel it when you lose one game, it’s really hard for everybody. I can understand that. I can feel it in the stadium after the first goal.
“We understand the context, but we have to keep (working) in the same way, doing the same things. The same words I have here with Everton, I have today. Continue to focus on the performance.
“We need to improve in a lot of aspects of the game and continue to do the same things tomorrow in training.”
Hojlund on Forest defeat
“Annoying to concede three at home against Forest,” Man Utd striker Rasmus Hojlund said after that defeat, “It was some irritating goals, you can say. Then again we need to do better, all of us. It’s not only individuals. We all need to do better and, yeah, today it could have been much, much better.
“It’s a bit annoying. They score very early in the second half and also very early in the first half, which is sort of killing the momentum a little bit and the confidence as well.
“I think we play alright in the first half after we get the first goal, but it kills the game a little bit that they get the two goals (after half-time).
“But, then again, we play at home and we’ve still got, I think, 35 minutes left, so obviously we need to do more and see if we could have at least got a point.”
Rio Ferdinand wants Man Utd to be as ‘brutal’ with players as Dan Ashworth exits
Rio Ferdinand has questioned Manchester United’s decision to part company with sporting director Dan Ashworth after just five months and called on club co-owners Ineos to be just as “brutal” with their under-performing playing squad.
Ashworth left the club over the weekend, with his exit seen as part of a mass restructuring at Old Trafford, which has seen around 250 staff members made redundant since the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Rio Ferdinand wants Man Utd to be as ‘brutal’ with players as Dan Ashworth exits
Ashworth left the club over the weekend after just five months at Old Trafford.
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