The Man Utd mistake maker that Rangers can get after as Red Devils stalwart offers Europa League hope

Ruben Amorim dubbed his Manchester United side “maybe the worst” team in the club’s history in the wake of their Premier League defeat to Brighton put three goals past them at the weekend.

With Rangers now heading to Old Trafford on Europa League duty this Thursday, former Red Devils stalwart Wes Brown has told Philippe Clement and his players they are coming up against his old club at the best possible time.

United have been ruthlessly punished for a number glaring mistakes this season, with goalkeeper André Onana, in particular, caught out on more than one occasion. And Brown reckons a major part of Clement’s pre-match team talk should centre around putting the unconvincing United No.1 under serious pressure.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Record, Brown said: “We let in goals. If you look at every game in our league we are minus 5 [goal difference]. We let in stupid goals and make mistakes. That has been the biggest problem.

“Onana makes a mistake the other day and if that doesn't happen we are sort of in the game. So the mistakes are massive this season and we've not quite been able to come away from that.

“Since Harry (Maguire) has been in there he has been massive for us and really solid in the middle of the three. But like I said, it is mainly just mistakes and they come from confidence. Things happen and you are overthinking it rather than playing just football.

“I feel Rangers will put a lot of pressure on us and if they can get a mistake of us, this season believe me we have been punished every time. They just need to stick together Rangers and try and keep that pressure on United.

“As you will know, in the Rangers team talk it will be discussed, can we put some pressure on the keeper? Being Onana or any other player you need to stand up and be able to take that and get on with that. Rangers will be looking at the clips and thinking 'this is a good opportunity for us'.”

United’s form of late has been less than convincing. Languishing down in 13th position in the English Premier League after collecting just 26 points from 22 games, the Old Trafford fear factor has been quickly evaporating. Brown reckons Rangers are well positioned to take full advantage of the club’s current situation.

As for Amorim, the Portuguese boss will be no stranger to the Ibrox club on the European stage having managed Braga against them in the same competition on two previous occasions. He tasted defeat in Govan and on home soil, leading Brown to suggest that will play on his mind ahead of a third showdown with the Light Blues.

“I think he will understand what he is expecting and up against,” Brown added. “He will understand Rangers are not the sort of team to lie down and if they catch us on a bad day anything can happen. He is going to have to fire the players up. The players will then need to take responsibility and battle the mental side of it and just get through it. Try and run their hearts out and perform. It is going to be very interesting.”

On Amorim's fiery post-match comments following United’s latest defeat against Brighton about it being worst team assembled in the club’s 147-year history and how players might react to hearing that inside the dressing room, Brown responded: “I definitely had that thrown at us at Sunderland but not at Man Utd. It is a tough one. The manager needs the players to understand where they are and the sort of position they are in at the moment.

“You don't know what has been said privately but he's making sure they understand that it is not good enough. Everybody is underachieving and at the moment looking at it, it is the worst team. He obviously feels he needed to let the players know that for whatever reason and they need to do better. It is as simple as that.”