Ruben Amorim described Manchester United in the wake of their defeat to Brighton as ‘maybe the worst’ team in the history of the club.
And with Rangers heading to Old Trafford on Thursday night in the Europa League, a club icon has told Philippe Clement and his troops they are coming up against the English Premier League giants at the BEST possible time. It is a club dripped in history of winning titles, domestic cups and European honours. But the current form of late has them looking down in the league rather than at championships and Champions League football next term. 26 points from 22 games leaves them languishing in 13th position with that Old Trafford fear factor quickly evaporating.
They are in the hunt for the knockout rounds in UEFA’s second tier competition while they’ve still got the FA Cup to play for, but on current form, especially at home, Wes Brown believes Rangers will arrive ready to take advantage of the current situation. The pressure is on his former club and he warned they must match the willingness to run, the midfield battle and don’t give up – traits he reckons the Light Blues will arrive with in their armoury come Thursday night.
Speaking exclusively to Record Sport, when asked if Rangers are getting Manchester United at the best time, Brown said: “I definitely think so. Especially at home as well. Coming after a defeat to Brighton. We’ve really struggled to pick up the pace at home and I know for a fact with Rangers coming to Old Trafford there will be a willingness there that I reckon the players and team will have to really put the pressure on and try and take advantage of the current situation at the moment.”
He continued: “I think first of all there is definitely pressure to win the game. We know how big the game is. It is not like we get to play each other all the time. It is a game where as a Man Utd fan you are looking at it and saying we still need to win this game to make sure we are going through to the next stages.
“I think Rangers have got the team at a very good time, it is as simple as that. I know they are behind a little bit in the league themselves but they will understand and really make it a tough game. They will make sure they are running, putting in a solid performance and that means everything. The willingness to run around and battle, win balls and don’t give up. And we need to show the same.
“United will have to somehow put a performance in. You’ve got to sort of forget what happened in the last game and be mentally strong. But it makes it an interesting game because we are back at home and it has not been good at home the whole season.”
Brown has previously faced Rangers in the Champions League in a 0-0 home draw. Walter Smith set out a defensive game plan which his side carried out to a tee to claim a huge point against a star-studded United team that included Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher and Park Ji-Sung. Clement is unlikely to adopt the same approach given the circumstances surrounding United at the minute with Brown warning the visitors will be thinking they can take advantage of the current troubles.
He said: “It is a weird one. I think if you are Rangers you sort of say ‘listen we are catching them at a good time here. To every single man we have to perform but they’ve not got any luck at the moment and down from the last game. We can really take advantage of them’. That is how Rangers have to approach it. That’s all they can do really.
“You have to look at that [positions in group] Rangers have done well and are sitting in a nice position. They know if they win they are sort of nearly guaranteed an automatic place in next round. They are coming into the game with a little bit of confidence in that sense but United aren’t. It is as simple as that.”
On Amorim’s post-match comments about the worst team in 147-year history and how players would react to that inside the dressing room, he added: “I definitely had that thrown at us at Sunderland but not at Man Utd. It is a tough one. The manager needs the players to understand where they are and the sort of position they are in at the moment.
“You don’t know what has been said privately but he’s making sure they understand that it is not good enough. Everybody is under-achieving and at the moment looking at it, it is the worst team. He obviously feels he needed to let the players know that for whatever reason and they need to do better. It is as simple as that.”
The message to Rangers is clear, United make mistakes and they are going punished. André Onana has been caught out more than one time this season and Brown reckons a big part of the team talk from the Ibrox side will be to put pressure on the United No1.
He said: “We let in goals. If you look at every game in our league we are minus 5 [goal difference]. We let in stupid goals and make mistakes. That has been the biggest problem. Onana makes a mistake the other day and if that doesn’t happen we are sort of in the game. So the mistakes are massive this season and we’ve not quite been able to come away from that. Since Harry [Maguire] has been in there he has been massive for us and really solid in the middle of the three.
“But like I said, it is mainly just mistakes and they come from confidence. Things happen and you are overthinking it rather than playing just football. I feel Rangers will put a lot of pressure on us and if they can get a mistake of us, this season believe me we have been punished every time. They just need to stick together Rangers and try and keep that pressure on United.
“As you will know, in the Rangers team talk it will be discussed, can we put some pressure on the keeper? Being Onana or any other player you need to stand up and be able to take that and get on with that. Rangers will be looking at the clips and thinking ‘this is a good opportunity for us’.
Amorim is no stranger to Rangers on the European stage having bossed Braga against them in this very competition on two occasions. The Portuguese boss lost at Ibrox and on home turf and when put to Brown – speaking in association with NewBettingOffers.co.uk – if that will play on his mind ahead of a third match up with the Light Blues, he added: “I think he will understand what he is excepting and up against.
“He will understand Rangers are not the sort of team to lie down and if they catch us on a bad day anything can happen. He is going to have to fire the players up. The players will then need to take responsibility and battle the mental side of it and just get through it. Try and run their hearts out and perform. It is going to be very interesting.”