Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim says his players were “aggressive” and “controlled the transitions very well” in their comeback victory against Viktoria Plzen.
The Red Devils came from behind to beat Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.
Amorim made some changes before the hour mark, with Rasmus Hojlund making a huge impact off the bench.
The Danish striker scored both of United’s goals to earn them three valuable points, lifting them to fifth in the league phase table, four points behind leaders Athletic Bilbao.
United ended Plzen’s 12-match home unbeaten run in Europe (including qualifiers), becoming the first foreign side to win there since Barcelona did so in November 2022.
It was also the Red Devils’ first away win in Europe since beating Real Betis in March 2023.
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Amorim says his players showed improvement after a slow first half and praised those on the pitch for their reaction to going 1-0 down.
“We improved during the game,” he said. “We controlled the game in the first half, but without any great chances.
“We lacked speed and movement and we didn’t control the ball because the pitch was difficult to make the connections with the strikers. Viktoria didn’t have chances either.
“In the second half, we gave a goal away but we reacted well. We pushed the opponents to their own half and we managed to score. The win is important at the moment and it’s good to prepare for the next game.
“The speed improved. I told the players we need more movement in front because they have to feel we are a danger. We changed a little bit of our game and the players from the bench also helped. We improved not just the way we play, but also the speed of the game.
“We are improving in some details. We controlled the transitions very well. We were aggressive when we lost the ball. We need to spend more time near the opposition goal.”
On Hojlund, Amorim added: “He is improving. He is more near the goal now. He knows better the movement he has to do. He could score more this evening. but he is scoring, working and controlling the ball better.”
United captain Bruno Fernandes praised his teammates for coming behind to win in Czechia.
“It was a good performance overall. I think in the final third we could have kept the ball a bit more but the man-marking from them was difficult to get away from. Sometimes you just have to pass and run to try to find the gaps in behind.
“In the first half we did it better than in the second half, when we let the game go a little bit in the way that they wanted, a bit more transitional. Then we dealt with that and in the end we got the win.
“We want to play from the back and everyone knows that then we have to make the right decision on the pitch. Andre [Onana] thought that Matta [De Ligt] could get on the ball but he missed it and they scored a goal.
“It is not about Andre making the mistake, we don’t look at individuals here when something happens on the wrong side. We have huge belief in him. He knows he made a mistake because he is a clever guy, he is going to help us many times and we trust his qualities on the ball.
“Mistakes are part of football. If they don’t happen then goals don’t happen. But we did well to show the resilience to come back and find the victory.”
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Match-winner Hojlund added: “It was a bit difficult out there. It was very cold today and the pitch was a bit boggy as well, but we solved it in the second half.
“I think we didn’t play too direct in the first half. We needed to play over them and behind them more because there was space to run into. Especially with the boggy pitch I was talking about, if we won the second balls, you can play from there.”
Hojlund continued: “We still need more time. It’s still very early days. It’s about getting our routines together and its getting there. But it still needs practice and time.
“I know it sounds odd, but we don’t get enough time on the training ground, so we have to train it during the matches. But it’s getting better and better.”
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy
