Viktoria Plzen boss Miroslav Koubek 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.

A brace from substitute Rasmus Hojlund saved the day for United against the Czech side to give them a 2-1 win that lifts them into seventh in the Europa League table, on course for automatic qualification into the last 16.

But former Burnley forward Matej Vydra had given the hosts the lead early in the second half as Andre Onana gifted them the goal as he attempted to play the ball out from the back.

Onana was heavily criticised at the start of last season but has become one of the most consistent performers for the Red Devils in 2024 – with his name sung by the fans against Ipswich last month – before an error against Nottingham Forest and then this one on Thursday in the Europa League.

Plzen boss Koubek was asked after the game whether he told his players to “really put pressure” on the United goalkeeper.

“Yes that was our tactic,” said Koubek. “I told them to shoot from every viable opportunity – maybe I’m disappointed with the very last shot – that could have been resolved better.

“But the player decided to shoot and it is what it is. We are disappointed, we deserved at least a point. I am proud of the team. The guys gave everything and made it very difficult for the opponent.

“The opponent certainly values the win a lot, we value our performance, it was a beautiful match. It wasn’t like a world class opponent was pouring four or five goals on us, we resisted heroically.”

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👉 Big Weekend: Man City v Man United, Nottingham Forest, Russell Martin, Eberechi Eze

Amorim believes the state of the pitch didn’t help his players, but insists they “controlled the game” before getting the breakthrough.

“I think we improved during the game. We controlled the game in the first half but without any great chances. [There was a] lack of speed, lack of movement, controlling the ball. The pitch was difficult to make the connection with the strikers and the frontal support.

“But we controlled it, as Viktoria didn’t have chances either. The second half, we gave the goal away and then we react. We pushed the opponent into their half and then we managed to score. We couldn’t score before but a win in this moment is important. It’s important to look at the performance but a win is always better to prepare the next game.”

Amorim said his side picked up the pace of play after the break.

“The speed [changed]. I told the players that we need more movement in front because they have to feel that we are a danger behind, to use the space. That changed a little bit the game, but also the guys that came off the bench helped. I think we improved not just with the way we play but specifically with the speed of the game.”

We had never heard of him before this week, have never seen him play and therefore have no idea whether Diego Leon will be a good first signing for Ruben Amorim or not.

A left-back seems like a wise choice given the perennially crocked options the new Manchester United boss has to choose from, or rather doesn’t have to choose from, and the Paraguayan fits with the Sir Jim Ratcliffe-instigated remit of signing young players on the cheap.

Leon also won’t have much difficultly in usurping the first signings of the other Manchester United managers since Sir Alex Ferguson. We’ve ranked them.

5) Tyrell Malacia (Erik ten Hag)
A slightly out of character move by Erik ten Hag given he had never played for Ajax, but not too great a leap for the Dutch boss to make a Dutchman his first signing.

Malacia made his return for Manchester United in November after 18 months out having had an operation on a torn meniscus at the end of the 2022/2023 season, followed by another operation to fix the botched first one and then a gruelling period of rehab, with a big chunk spent away from the club as United didn’t have the resources to give his recovery the attention it required.

“I have a lot of patience but, in this process, I learned that I have more patience than every other person in the world at this moment,” Malacia said. Not half.

Impossible to rank based on his quality – in truth we don’t really know how good he is – and only bottom because of a lack of impact beyond his control.

READ MORE: Man Utd NOT ‘writing off’ £80m despite Ruben Amorim ‘progress off the pitch’

4) Dan James (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer)
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signed both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire in his first transfer window for a combined £130m but landed James from Swansea for what initially looked like an absolute snip at £15m.

He scored three goals in his first four games for United, including one on debut against Chelsea, but failed to find the net in the remainder of that first season, contributing six assists while starting the majority of Premier League games.

James fell out of favour in his second season as Mason Greenwood was promoted to the first team, and was sold in 2021 following Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford.

No skin off Old Trafford noses for a change though with Leeds paying £25m for his services, making him one of very few players sold for a profit by Manchester United.

“I got bought for my direct play, running in behind, running with the ball, trying things and not being afraid to lose the ball but slowly I started to come away from that and play a little safe,” James said when reflecting on his time at United.

“When I stepped back it was remembering to be direct, to be that person. Safe is dangerous in the position I play. You’re not there to do that – you’re there to score goals and make assists and run yourself into the ground on and off the ball.”

Sounds very much like another winger who’s thriving elsewhere having escaped Old Trafford, and another who would be wise to do the same.

3) Eric Bailly (Jose Mourinho)
“Of course, I’m glad that someone compares him to me and I hope he will be a player who does very well for us,” That was Nemanja Vidic, responding to the comparisons with Bailly from various impetuous and fanciful Manchester United pundits yet to be burned by dozens of further Next Manchester United Great claims about players then cursed to fall by the wayside.

They were premature but not wholly preposterous predictions of excellence. Having picked up the Man of the Match award in United’s 2-1 win over Leicester in the Community Shield, Bailly impressed through much of his debut season, helping Jose Mourinho’s side keep clean sheets at Anfield and the Etihad.

And we do sometimes wonder how good he might have been without quite such a horrible injury record, though his propensity for calamitous mistakes makes for only brief periods of such whimsy.

We were half expecting him to come off the bench as Erik ten Hag’s tenure drew to a close, such was his obligation to the old guard of Manchester United centre-backs. And there were certainly times when watching the multifarious Red Devils back fours under the Dutchman when we thought Bailly may have done a better job, which is a damning indictment of the displays of those defenders still at United as their former centre-back sits on Villarreal’s bench.

READ MORE: Marcus Rashford tempting for Arsenal as Jadon Sancho proves Man Utd are the problem

2) Marouane Fellaini (David Moyes)
“You can ask my staff – the last thing I wanted was for Marouane Fellaini to be my first signing,” David Moyes said in 2017. “I knew, coming from my old club, the look was never going to be good. I’ve got to say we looked at Matic as well. He hadn’t done well for Chelsea and had gone back to Benfica. He was a consideration.”

Moyes rarely fails to mention the players he nearly signed in the countless and therefore tedious interviews he’s done in the decade since his 10-month spell at Manchester United. We’re not blaming him by the way, but the unbridled obsession with What Might Have Been for Red Devils fans and the media outlets that prey on that fascination.

Matic joins Leighton Baines, Cesc Fabregas, Gareth Bale and Thiago Alcantara in quite the list of missed transfers in the summer after Sir Alex Ferguson handed the reins to Moyes, who admitted to hitting a since-worn-out panic button on deadline day to bring in Fellaini as his only summer transfer.

The big Belgian became something of a stick to beat Moyes in his doomed post-legacy boss reign at Old Trafford, with fans seeing him as a symbol of a demise they thought was reaching its nadir. Sweet summer children.

The midfielder-cum-big-f***er-in-the-box was expected to leave following Moyes’ departure but went on to make over 150 appearances for the club, scoring big goals under both Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho.

“My first season in Manchester was difficult, but I left as a respected player,” Fellaini said. “I gave my very best for this club, played so many games and almost only scored important goals. I worked with super players and managers at one of the biggest clubs in the world. Then you can only look back with a smile.”

Miss you, Marouane.

1) Ander Herrera (Louis van Gaal)
We can add Herrera to the list of players Moyes wanted but didn’t get as United refused to pay his £30m release clause in the summer of 2013, but the Scot wasn’t deterred and laid the groundwork for the midfielder’s arrival the following summer.

Louis van Gaal gave the go-ahead for the deal to be completed but never gave him a consistent run in the first team, with Herrera starting roughly half the Premier League games in each of his two seasons under the Dutch boss.

Jose Mourinho gave him more of a run in the team and the Spaniard became a fan favourite thanks to his work rate, passion and commitment to sh*thousery.

The midfielder was reduced to tears when discussing his exit from Manchester United: “I got the Player of the Year award by the fans and the club didn’t call me that summer to sign a new contract, and they did with other players. That was painful for me, honestly.”

Herrera won the individual gong on the back of United’s most successful post-Sir Alex Ferguson season, in which he played a key role in their League Cup and Europa League titles under Mourinho, and memorably man-marked Eden Hazard out of a clash with Chelsea in perhaps the defining game of his Old Trafford career.

But the new contract didn’t arrive after that season and a lame offer as his deal came to a close was comfortably improved on by PSG.

One Man Utd player has already complained about Ruben Amorim just five games into the new manager’s tenure at Old Trafford, according to reports.

The Red Devils have been in terrible form this season with Man Utd only winning five of their 15 matches in the Premier League this season, sitting 13th in the table.

Erik ten Hag got the sack at the end of October after winning just three of their opening nine Premier League fixtures but Amorim isn’t doing much better.

Amorim has drawn one, won one and lost two of his first four Premier League matches in charge, while he has also won both of his Europa League matches against Bodo/Glimt and Viktoria Plzen.

The Portuguese head coach has consistently stuck with his 3-4-3 formation but he has massively chopped and changed personnel over his six games in charge.

Amorim looks like he is attempting to find his best team but one star has already complained about the Man Utd boss and his rotation policy.

The Manchester Evening News claim:

‘The majority of Manchester United players are in favour of Ruben Amorim’s rotation policy despite murmurs of discontent from a minority of the squad.

‘Amorim has made 23 changes across United’s past four games and at least one player has privately complained about the new head coach’s rotation.

‘Club sources say the vast majority of players have reacted well to Amorim’s rotation as it has shared around playing time. Amorim has started 21 different players during his five matches in charge and made 25 substitutes out of a possible 25.’

Man Utd boss Amorim recently explained that he is rotating to not injure the players who have just come back from injury and to “assess” the others in his squad.

When asked recently about his rotation policy at Man Utd, Amorim explained: “It’s not because I like to change all the time but we have to have all the squad fit.

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Ranking every post-Fergie Man Utd manager’s first signings as Amorim closes in on Leon
👉 Garnacho 5th), Diallo 4th): Man Utd’s ‘unsellable’ seven ranked on how unsellable they *actually* are
👉 Big Weekend: Man City v Man United, Nottingham Forest, Russell Martin, Eberechi Eze

“So, for example, Harry Maguire has a time limit, Tyrell Malacia has a time limit, Mason Mount has a time limit, Leny Yoro has a really time limit. So we have to manage winning games, different methodology, different way of playing, more metres to press and tomorrow we have to assess and the guys that are a little bit at risk to some injury will not play.

“So we have to have everybody to work, to play and to improve the squad.”

Man Utd beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 on Thursday night in the Europa League group stage with Rasmus Hojlund scoring both of the goals.

On their performance, Amorim said: “I think we improved during the game. We controlled the game in the first half but without any great chances. [There was a] lack of speed, lack of movement, controlling the ball.

“The pitch was difficult to make the connection with the strikers and the frontal support. But we controlled it, as Viktoria didn’t have chances either. The second half, we gave the goal away and then we react. We pushed the opponent into their half and then we managed to score.

“We couldn’t score before but a win in this moment is important. It’s important to look at the performance but a win is always better to prepare the next game.”

Reports suggest Manchester United have identified seven ‘unsellable’ stars, so we’ve ranked Ruben Amorim’s finest on how unsellable they *actually* are…

If Ruben Amorim wasn’t initially aware of the magnitude of the job facing him at Old Trafford, he certainly is after his first month as Man Utd‘s head coach.

Early signs of positivity have made way for even more alarming lows as back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest preceded widespread reports of a mass exodus – with Marcus Rashford at the centre – in 2025.

The Red Devils already have a clearer identity under Amorim than previous boss Erik ten Hag, but most of his squad are not fit for purpose and upgrades are required if Man Utd are going to return to being the ‘best in class’ any time soon.

Amorim does at least have a few key players he can hang his hat on as a report claimed they are ‘keen to keep young stars Kobbie Mainoo, Leny Yoro and Alejandro Garnacho’ before another outlet added Amad Diallo, Noussair Mazraoui, Andre Onana and Matthijs de Ligt to this exclusive ‘unsellable’ club.

So, of these supposed ‘unsellable’ stars, which are United’s most important assets? Starting with three pretty dispensable players, here is our ranking…

7) Matthijs de Ligt
The jury is still out on the Netherlands international as he’s been outshone by another former Bayern Munich star who ditched the Bundesliga giants for Man Utd in the summer.

Once touted as the future world’s best centre-back, De Ligt’s reputation has massively declined following underwhelming spells at Juventus and Bayern Munich. Now, his transfer has not been the disaster some feared, but he’s not done anywhere near enough to earn himself the ‘unsellable’ tag.

Behind Yoro and Lisandro Martinez, De Ligt is arguably third in the centre-back pecking order at Man Utd and could slip further if they finally land Amorim’s reported ‘top’ target, Jarrad Branthwaite.

READ: Man Utd and Man City miserably side by side in Premier League mood rankings

6) Andre Onana
Particularly in the Champions League, David De Gea’s replacement was not without his difficulties in his debut season at Old Trafford, though he grew into the 2023/24 campaign. Overall, he was one of their more consistent performers.

Generally, this has carried over into this season…but he did have a ‘mare against Nottingham Forest and deservedly found himself in our worst Premier League XI.

Reports claiming Man Utd have their ‘chosen’ Onana replacement lined up are premature as their transfer priorities will lie elsewhere. Yet the Cameroon international needs to ensure that Forest disasterclass was a one-off to solidify his position.

5) Alejandro Garnacho
One of United’s star boys, Garnacho has long been heralded as a youngster with immense potential and he’s shown on occasion that he may eventually live up to the hype.

But there are justifiable questions about the Argentina international’s ability to fit into Amorim’s system, whether as a No.10 or wing-back. Up to now, he’s not done enough to silence his critics.

Rashford has been deemed the ‘obvious candidate’ to bring in pure-profit funds, but  Garnacho is another and a big-money sale (to Real Madrid, perhaps) could suit all parties as it would give Amorim the budget to land at least one better-suited replacement.

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4) Amad Diallo
With the winger/wing-back ratio in United’s squad somewhat skewed, one of the most intriguing plot points ahead of Amorim’s arrival surrounded the flanks and who the head coach would trust to play in an unfamiliar position.

Amorim has given most of his squad a chance to a varying degree, but Diallo is perhaps the finest example of a player grasping the new manager opportunity with both hands.

The 22-year-old – who alarmingly remains out of contract in 2025 – has featured prominently under Amorim as a right wing-back and has flourished in the attacking and defensive halves.

Diallo has become undroppable and has grabbed four assists in Amorim’s four Premier League games. He’s also surely the frontrunner for Man Utd’s in-house Player of the Year accolade, though the competition is not exactly hot.

3) Noussair Mazraoui
Ignoring the elephant in the room, Maraoui was a rare great find during the Ten Hag era and is legitimately one of the signings of the season in the Premier League.

Mazraoui – the cheapest of Man Utd’s summer signings – has been leaps and bounds ahead of their other pre-season additions, he’s been equally impressive in each of the several positions he’s played this season.

Especially following the appointment of Amorim, Mazraoui’s versatility will be priceless in the coming months/years and he deserves credit for bucking the trend by settling in seamlessly in the most troublesome of waters.

READ: Marcus Rashford tempting for Arsenal as Jadon Sancho proves Man Utd are the problem

2) Leny Yoro
The signing of Yoro was earmarked as a legitimate statement of intent from INEOS in the summer, but it has been downhill since for the increasingly unpopular Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Yoro’s move to Real Madrid felt inevitable before Man Utd swooped – turning a blind eye to one ‘significant concern’ – with an offer the teenager could not refuse.

The pre-season blow of a foot injury has made Yoro’s start at Man Utd frustrating, but he has recovered and has recently been in Amorim’s team.

We knew little about Yoro before his Old Trafford move, but the immense hype around him promises a great deal. While it might take a couple of years to see the best of the 19-year-old as he takes time to mature and grow into his body, there’s no doubt Man Utd have a big asset on their hands and won’t – unless he proves to be a massive fraud – sell him any time soon.

1) Kobbie Mainoo
The Man Utd faithful looked on lovingly with immense pride as Mainoo enjoyed an extraordinary breakout year for club and country last season.

At times, it felt like the fearless and superbly talented 19-year-old was solely carrying Man Utd and England, but he has suffered a fall from grace this season.

This admittedly comes with mitigating factors as burnout and injuries have held Mainoo back from reaching last season’s levels. It’s also worth remembering that he’s still only a teenager and inconsistent form is pretty common for a player in this age bracket.

Amorim has yet to see the best of Mainoo and it will be a big boost for Man Utd’s new head coach when he’s back to full form and fitness as he’s the youngster with the highest ceiling to have recently progressed through the ranks at Carrington.

Arsenal legend Ian Wright has praised Chelsea for agreeing an “amazing bargain” to sign Jadon Sancho from Man Utd permanently next summer.

The Blues beat Tottenham 4-3 over the weekend to maintain their excellent start to the season and close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points, although the Merseysiders have a game in hand.

Chelsea have now won five matches in a row in all competitions and are unbeaten in six after Enzo Maresca has managed to unite a talented squad this season.

The west Londoners have spent over £1billion since a Todd Boehly-led consortium took over the club in May 2022 but they have now built a team, led by Cole Palmer’s brilliance, that could challenge for the title this season.

Sancho, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Borussia Dortmund after falling out with Erik ten Hag at Man Utd, joined Chelsea on loan in the summer with an obligation to buy for around £25m next summer.

Praising Sancho’s recent displays, Wright said on his own podcast: “I need to give flowers to Jadon Sancho. He was very good [against Tottenham], he was good.

“He said afterwards about proving people wrong and feeling welcome so he obviously didn’t feel that at the other place, at Man United, probably.

“Why would he say that otherwise? He didn’t feel like he was at the bosom of a football club that recognised what he can do and gave him the platform to express himself.

“Even when he went to Dortmund last season he was proving people wrong.

“I’m just pleased he’s shown since leaving United that in the right environment he is a top player, a top player.”

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After being told that Sancho will only cost Chelsea £25m when the deal becomes permanent, Wright continued: “Wow, £25m, that is an amazing bargain, an amazing bargain.”

Despite a good season to date, Wright believes Chelsea need to sign two more players to go to “the next level”.

Wright added: “A goalkeeper and an experienced centre-half takes them to the next level. I think they’re only missing a good goalkeeper and an experienced centre-half.

“I think the goalkeeper has it in him to drop some points. But Chelsea can just continue as they are, no one is expecting it from then, so we will see what Chelsea and Enzo Maresca are made of later in the season.

“If they get an experienced guy in the dressing room, they are right amongst it. I keep saying it but watch this space with Chelsea.”