The stakes for Ruben Amorim and Manchester United couldn't be higher in the Europa League final.
Win and you miraculously salvage Champions League qualification and a trophy from this disgrace of a Premier League season.
Lose and the scrutiny will intensify on Amorim's job.
They have normalised losing, becoming historically bad and in Amorim's own words "maybe the worst United team in the club's history."
And is what is arguably the club's biggest game in the post-Ferguson era, losing is not viewed as an option.
Friday's defeat to Chelsea inflicted their 18th league loss of the season, yet the story is different when it comes to the Europa League.
But what's been different in Europe's second club competition?
Physical battles
Amorim has stubbornly stuck to his 3-5-2 formation since arriving in an attempt to dominate possession and find gaps in the half-spaces with the left and right forward dropping, hoping to combine with a wide full-back.
We’ve only seen a few games where you could say this style of play has been successfully implemented. This has largely been because teams in the Premier League are fast, physical and strong in the tackle.
Think back to when Amorim was introduced to England's top-flight. The Christmas schedule saw United bullied in duels by Wolves, Bournemouth and Newcastle in three losses in a row - teams who weren’t afraid to press.
In the Europa League though, United have faced only Spanish teams in the knockouts.
La Liga has players that are technical but the tempo of games pales in comparison to the fast and furious pace of the Premier League.
The result? United lose fewer duels and have more time on the ball.
Progression helping progression
United have been in positions in the Europa League where they’ve needed to overturn a deficit against Real Sociedad and infamously with a historic comeback vs Lyon.
Of course, it's not been a straightforward campaign. They needed to overturn a deficit against Real Sociedad alongside that historic comeback to beat Lyon.
Buoyed by an Old Trafford crowd, they don't tamely pass the ball around the back as they do in the Premier League. They've attacked teams more, aided by the fact that ball progression in Amorim's system works miles better in Europe.
The above images are against the worst team in the Premier League and yet, even Southampton figured out that when the ball was passed to the wide full-back (Amad Diallo) pushing the full-back up to press trapped United in a corner.
As a midfielder marked Manuel Ugarte in the middle, the other forwards would cover United’s centre-backs.
What ends up happening in a lot of games is the plan B of going long to Rasmus Hojlund is used but there is often a turnover - the Danish striker is the focal point for attacks but often the reason they break down as he simply can't hold the ball up.
In the Europa League? A different story entirely.
This example shows the space Harry Maguire has to pick a pass out as he isn’t pressed. He's afforded more space and United's defence has time to pick a pass to find players in the half space playing through the opposition centrally the way Amorim wants.
This isn’t to say getting to a Europa League final is easy, it’s more so that when United aren’t under the cosh of an intense press they are able to find gaps that don’t appear domestically.
Scoring in moments of flurry coupled with the comebacks, the confidence flows and as moves are pieced together more space is found.
What must Amorim do to win the final?
With it being an all-English final, we can use games from the season to decipher what United should and shouldn’t do in their approach.
When the sides met in mid-February, United’s press was a point of contention.
In the first half, Amorim instructed Bruno Fernandes playing in the pivot next to Casemiro to specifically press the full-back (Djed Spence) wide. It left Casemiro with far too much ground and players to cover as Spence would carry the ball past the Portuguese midfielder.
In the second half, Amorim tweaked this effectively making United more dangerous. If you press Spurs high up the pitch, it can result in turnovers as they commit too many men forward.
Instead of pressing in a mid-block, the Red Devils thwarted Tottenham's build-up with the full-backs pushed up in the press leading to United creating chances but, ultimately, not taking them.
Similarly to teams in the Europa League, a reason why Spurs have been so vulnerable this season is their press.
In the same game in February, United found joy unleashing their full-backs high and wide as Tottenham gave them a similar amount of space they've found in the Europa League, allowing a midfielder to turn unmarked and pick out a full-back pushed up.
It’s likely that Ange Postecoglou won’t change his approach, so if United can learn from the match three months ago, tighten up their press, be aggressive and make use of the space Tottenham’s block gives them, they can hurt the North London side.
Of course, this is easier said than done.
The pressure in the final is enormous. The stakes for both teams are huge but United have proved under Amorim that, when needed, they can rise to the big occasion.
They will need to do so one more time to salvage their season.
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