Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur begin their Europa League campaigns this week, seeking to put the poor start to the Premier League season behind them. Erik ten Hag’s United have yet to progress from a disastrous season last year, lying outside the top ten domestically with only seven points from five games. Despite leading Manchester United to their worst-ever Premier League position of eighth last season, primarily because of a surprise FA Cup final triumph against Manchester City, the Dutch manager narrowly kept his job.
United invested significantly in the transfer market, but the predicted improvement on the pitch has yet to materialize ahead of their Europa League debut at home to Twente on Wednesday.A goalless draw at Crystal Palace last weekend snuffed out some of the optimism generated by 3-0 win over Southampton and the League Cup demolition of Barnsley, but Ten Hag feels his squad is improving.
“We are dissatisfied with the score, despite the strong performance. We are upset with the score,” he stated following the stalemate at Selhurst Park. “But one thing is certain in football: there is a long way to go, and when you perform at the level we have today, the points and goals will come.
Manchester United are back in the rebuilt Europa League following a catastrophic winners League performance last season, which saw the three-time European winners finish last in their group. Anything less than a victory over Dutch side Twente, who are back in the tournament for the first time since 2012, in the first of their eight league-phase games, would put Ten Hag and his players under pressure.
Spurs seek refuge.
Tottenham fans’ discontent has also begun to develop for the first time since the club’s scorching start under Ange Postecoglou a year ago.
A 3-1 victory against Brentford at the weekend helped them recover from consecutive Premier League defeats to Newcastle and local rivals Arsenal.
However, Spurs will be anxious to end their 17-year drought for a major title and will regard the new Europa League, which will not contain any clubs crashing out of the Champions League as in past seasons, as a great opportunity.
On Thursday, they will host Qarabag, an Azeri club. “I tell people, ‘Show me a success story, and I’ll show you a struggle.'” “People forget the struggle and focus on the result,” Postecoglou remarked last week.
Meanwhile, crisis-affected Roma welcomes Athletic Bilbao to the Stadio Olimpico, looking to build on their recent European success. The Serie A team has reached at least the Europa League semi-finals in three of the last four seasons, except for their 2022 Conference League title under Jose
However, Roma fans were outraged by coach Daniele De Rossi’s dismissal, directing their rage at management and players they blamed for Sunday’s victory against Udinese. The outrage over De Rossi’s departure has been so intense that CEO Lina Souloukou, who resigned on Saturday morning, was placed under police protection following internet threats against her and her family.
A poster displayed outside Roma’s Trigoria training field characterized Greek Souloukou, the former CEO of Olympiakos, as “evil”. Listen to the newest songs only on JioSaavn.com. Other Europa League matches feature 2022 champions Eintracht Frankfurt hosting Viktoria Plzen, and four-time European champions Ajax hosting Besiktas in Amsterdam.