What Malacia said at the press conference

Manchester United defender Tyrell Malacia is enjoying the challenge of regaining his full match sharpness while learning Ruben Amorim’s style of play.

The Dutch defender made his return to first-team action following 18 months on the sidelines with a long-term injury during our new head coach’s second match in charge, against Bodo/Glimt last month, and is continuing to build up his minutes as he integrates his way back into the side.

Malacia completed the first half of the aforementioned fixture and the same amount of time in last week’s Premier League trip to Arsenal, and is set to earn his third start in our last five outings during Thursday night’s UEFA Europa League tie away to Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen.

That news was relayed by Amorim at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference, held at Plzen’s Doosan Arena shortly after United touched down in the Czech Republic, where Malacia was also present to preview the contest with journalists.

During the media briefing, Tyrell was asked about his personal game and how he feels he can get back to his best levels after a substantial period of time being out of action.

“[By] training every day, I have to improve week by week by playing games of course,” he said.

“I could already see a difference between my first game against Bodo/Glimt and Arsenal. Other than that, as a team, we are improving and trying to adapt to the playing style of the manager. I’m happy.”

With Amorim’s arrival and the implementation of a three-defender system, Malacia has been tasked with playing a new wing-back role, as a pose to the full-back position that we had become accustomed to him featuring from earlier in his United career. 

Our no.12 says there is differences in what he is now being asked to do, but it’s a challenge that he is relishing, as he begins to build a working relationship with Ruben.

“There’s a lot of changing. But I like [it] and what I know about this manager is he’s very clear, for all of us,” the Dutchman explained.

“That’s the most important thing, we know what we have to do in the game.”

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