Philippe Clement’s team have been giving the travelling Rangers faithful kittens on the road all season.
But Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim admits the panic stations have been at home for his side as their Old Trafford anxiety levels threaten to derail his latest Reds revolution. The Portuguese boss was tasked with clearing up the mess left by predecessor Erik ten Hag.
But so far the former Sporting Lisbon gaffer has only succeeded in steering his club into even mirkier territory. The 39-year-old has mustered a measly five wins from his 15 games in charges and Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Brighton – their fourth home defeat from the last five – leaves the Premier League giants sitting a lowly 13th.
Now ahead of welcoming Rangers to the Theatre of Dreams for Thursday night’s Europa League clash, Amorim admits nerves are preventing his side from putting on a show in Salford. He said: “I think that is clear. I could say different things and say we have the support of the fans.
“No, we are more nervous playing at home than away. Because we lost a lot of games, like four games in five. So it’s getting harder. But we can improve. If you conceded in the fourth minute liked we did against Brighton, then it’s really hard to calm down the team. So the first thing in my mind is the opposition cannot score. We need to score the first one.
“If we score the first one, I think that will change and we will play better at home in the beginning. We are really anxious playing, especially at home. And we are suffering goals. And then it’s really hard. So I think it’s clear for everybody that it’s getting harder to play at home.”
Amorim delivered just as brutally honest an assessment of his side after Sunday’s Seagulls set-back as he admitted they were “maybe the worst team in United history”. But he admitted it was a poor choice of words as he tried to walk back that claim ahead of facing Gers.
“First of all, I want to talk about that,” he said as he sat down for a media grilling at the Red Devils’ Carrington training HQ. “I was talking more for myself than from my players. I’m a coach that starts a job and loses seven games in the first 10, so it’s more for me.
“I also talked in the same response about how I was not helping my players. But I understand, I gave you that headline. And I’m frustrated sometimes. I should not say that in dark terms, but it is what it is. And sometimes it’s really hard to hide the frustration in some moments.
“But the good thing is that I said the same things in a different way in the dressing room five minutes before. So the response was quite normal, because I really want to help my players. And they trained well, they are ready for this game. I’m a young guy, and sometimes I make mistakes.”
United may be toiling domestically but are well positioned in seventh place to skip February’s Europa League play-offs with a bye straight through to March’s last 16. But Gers sit one place and one point behind and will be looking to boost their own chances of a top eight finish.
Defender Harry Maguire said: “I think we expect a tough game, we know Rangers are going to come here and give everything. We know they’re going to be followed with great support.
“They’ve done extremely well in the competition so far so yeah, we expect a tough game, but I think our focus has to be on ourselves, making sure that we perform on the back of a bad defeat at the weekend. We’ll go there with confidence that we can perform and get the three points.”