Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim defended making wholesale changes to field the club’s youngest ever Premier League lineup in Sunday’s 4-3 loss at Brentford, saying the club’s focus is entirely on their Europa League campaign.
United fell to a club record 16th Premier League defeat with a starting lineup that had an average age of just 22 to remain in 15th place while the victory boosted Brentford’s European hopes as they moved up to ninth.
United cannot finish in the top half of the table anymore but Amorim said he rested his senior players for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg, where they lead Athletic Bilbao 3-0.
“We as a club we need to understand in this moment we have a big responsibility. We have to prepare a squad for different competitions,” Amorim said in a post-match interview.
“I have no doubt that we are playing better. So we have to take all the heat. At this moment we are losing games in the Premier League. We are fighting for the Europa League and Thursday is the most important game for us.
“It is good for the players that everyone is playing. We want to be competitive. It is really hard, but we are doing the best we can.”
United have put all their eggs in the Europa League basket as winning the competition is their only chance of qualifying for the Champions League.
But Amorim said his squad is not yet ready to compete next season.
“We are not ready to play Premier League competitively and be in the Champions League, but we need to win and we need to win this competition to give something to our fans,” he added.
“Then we will have time to prepare the team to cope with those two competitions.”
Midfielder Mason Mount, who scored his first goal of the season, said winning the Europa League was the “most important thing” as the campaign draws to a close.
“The season we’ve had in the Premier League is something we need to look at massively,” he said. “But if we can get into the final and win that, it’s a positive end to the season.”
Information from Reuters was used in this story.
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