Vitoria Plzen boss Miroslav Kubek revealed after his side’s defeat to Manchester United that he told his players to target one Red Devils star in particular as a weakness in Ruben Amorim’s side.
Substitute Rasmus Hoylund’s brace saved the day for United The team defeated the Czech team 2-1, ranking seventh in the Europa League, and is expected to automatically advance to the top 16.
But former Burnley striker Mattei Vydra gave the hosts the lead early in the second half, with Andre Onana scoring as he tried to pass the ball out from the back.
Onana was heavily criticized at the start of last season but has emerged as one of the Red Devils’ most consistent performers in 2024 – with fans chanting his name against Ipswich Town last month – and has since The mistake came against Nottingham Forest and was repeated on Thursday. in the European League.
After the game, Plzen coach Kubek was asked if he allowed his players to “really put pressure on the Manchester United goalkeeper.”
“Yeah, that’s our strategy,” Kubek said. “I told them to take every available opportunity to shoot — and maybe I was disappointed with that last shot — that could have been handled better.
“But the player decided to shoot and that’s what happened. We’re disappointed and we deserved at least a point. I’m proud of the team. The lads gave everything and made things very difficult for the opponents.
“The opponent certainly valued this victory very much and we valued our performance too, it was a great game. It wasn’t like a world-class opponent threw four or five balls at us and we resisted heroically.”
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Amorim felt the state of the pitch did not help his players but insisted they “controlled the game” before the breakthrough.
“I think we improved in the game. In the first half we controlled the game but didn’t create great chances. [There was a] Lack of speed, lack of movement, lack of ball control. It was difficult to establish contact with the forwards and frontcourt support on the pitch.
“But we controlled the situation because Vitoria had no chance. In the second half, we conceded the ball and then we reacted. We pushed them to half-time and then we scored. We couldn’t score before but this time It’s important to win in the moment, but it’s always better to prepare for the next game.”
Amorim said his team picked up the pace after the break.
“speed [changed]. I told the players that we needed to move more up front because they had to feel that we were a danger at the back in order to exploit the space. That changed some aspects of the game, but the players coming off the bench also helped. I think we’ve improved not only in the way we play, but also in the speed of the game. “
