- Man United beat Bodo/Glimt 3-2 in the Europa League on Thursday night
- The Red Devils host Everton on Sunday before travelling to Arsenal on Wednesday
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Manchester United got the job done against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday night but former Red Devils midfielder Owen Hargreaves believes they will be in trouble if they play the same way against the the Premier League’s top sides.
Ruben Amorim claimed his first victory since taking charge at Old Trafford as United beat Bodo/Glimt 3-2 in the Europa League.
Rasmus Hojlund’s brace either side of half-time saw United come from behind to take the three points but it was by no means a convincing display.
The Manchester club lined up in Amorim’s preferred 3-4-2-1 formation with Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes in the central midfield roles but Hargreaves feels this could be a dangerous way to play against better teams.
‘I think they’ve got a lot of good players. Do they have the players capable of winning the Premier League or Champions League? Probably not. That’s going to take time to sort the recruitment out,’ Hargreaves told TNT Sports.
‘The most important thing is that they get results. Obviously Everton at the weekend is a tough game but at home you’d expect them [United] to win that game.
Owen Hargreaves believes Ruben Amorim’s tactics could be risky against better sides
Amorim claimed his first victory as Manchester United manager on Thursday evening
‘Tough fixtures, especially the Arsenal one coming up after that, but they need to find a way to get results. Today they didn’t play brilliantly but they found a way to win the game which is the most important thing.
‘I don’t think he has the personnel that he had at Sporting. I think if you’re going to play two in there [midfield], they need to be two super-athletes and cover the distances.
‘I’m not sure they have that as such. I think they’ve got some really good players, different players but he might have to tweak it that maybe one of the No10s drops in and one of the wing-backs gets a little bit higher for the width.
‘But I think playing two in there against an Arsenal or a [Manchester] City, I think that’s going to be really, really difficult. I think it’s a work in progress, we need to be patient but we’re getting there.’
Hargreaves also thinks that Kobbie Mainoo will have a big role to play going forward despite the Englishman not featuring in either of Amorim’s games as manager.
‘It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Kobbie Mainoo, such a special young player, you’d think he’d kind of almost walk into that midfield,’ Hargreaves said.
Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation saw Bruno Fernandes (R) and Manuel Ugarte start in midfield
‘Ugarte I thought played really well today, there are a lot of people who are going to get opportunities.
‘It was nice to see Hojlund step up and score some goals. He’s a super talented young man, I think there’s so much potential in him and that’s the good thing about Ruben Amorim, he’s brilliant with young players, we saw what he did with Viktor Gyokeres, I’m sure he could do that with Rasmus Hojlund as well.
‘There are so many different options to come. It’ll just be exciting to get [Leny] Yoro back fit, [Luke] Shaw back fit, [Noussair] Mazraoui plays amazing every time he plays, there’s a lot of potential here.’
