Manchester United head coach, Ruben Amorim, has expressed his excitement with his side’s qualification to the Europa League round of 16 after they finished 3rd in the league phase. Manchester United went unbeaten in the Europa League with 5 wins and 3 draws concluding with a 2-0 win over Fotbal Club FCSB formerly known as Steaua București.
Speaking after the game the Portuguese trainer expounded on the benefits of avoiding the playoff round:
“That is really important for us. To have time to train, to create a connection between everybody, even the staff, everybody there in training, to know each other in the right environment I think is really important. Then you can have one week to prepare a game so you can work from the beginning of the week, you can work on your ideas and then you have time to focus also on the opponent. To prepare for the game better, the players can rest. I can understand my players better”
Kobbie Mainoo was mentioned for special praise, the England international was played further forward than usual and Amorim hinted that might be his best position:
“We need time to understand the players. He was struggling a lot defending as a midfielder. Now more as a 10, you can feel it that it was so free playing the ball near the box. So, I need time, we need time to work with the players to understand what is the best position for them.”
Manchester United return to Premier League action when they host Crystal Palace on Sunday.
