Sky Sports News’ senior reporter Melissa Reddy sits down with Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, live on Sky Sports, as the Portuguese says this summer’s transfer window is going to be “crucial”.
Ruben, there were so many positives against Nottingham Forest, but Man Utd conspired against themselves with two bad habits, which are conceding first and then being really poor in the final third. How do you go about trying to fix those problems?
“Conceding first, if you look at our season, we improve in that department because we are more focused. But every time we disconnect a little bit – and you can look at the goal against Nottingham, it was a disconnection. There is a corner, we have players for the second ball and then you suffer a goal and then the game changes. That is something that we work on every day in every exercise.
“No matter if it is a passing drill, they need to be focused. So we try that. And then in the offence, we try to put the players in that position a lot of the time during training. But we need time for that also. We sometimes need a little bit of luck because when we are shooting and it’s not the goalkeeper [denying us], it’s the defending. Of course, we cannot hide behind that. But I also understand because I was a football player, I’m a coach, I understand that sometimes you just need a shot to score. In this moment, we need to do a lot of things.”
Is it more of a psychological thing the issues in the final third, where players perhaps are snatching or it’s just not flowing, so they’re not as calm as they should be in terms of their decision-making?
“I think they need to spend more time in that position because we didn’t have a lot of games like Nottingham, like just attacking. We have to spend more time there. And also in that moment, if you look at Rasmus (Hojlund) and Josh (Zirkzee) and Garna (Alejandro Garnacho) they want this, they try to shoot – especially Garna. They want it really bad, but we are not doing the things with the quality that they should do. So sometimes it’s hard to explain because we have the situations, everybody knows where Garna wants to put the ball, but something is missing and maybe it’s just the moment of the players.”
How do you switch the mindset of your players from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City on Sunday, ahead of what is the all-important Europa League game against Lyon on Thursday?
“It’s basically all in the training. You explain, and then you put on an exercise, like really clear on how to do it. And they are professional players, they are smart and they understand that against Nottingham you can press in a certain way but they will try to make a transition.
“We know that Manchester City is going to work the ball, is going to push us to a lower block. But then we have to understand that when they push us, we will have a different space to attack if you compare it to Nottingham games. So we try using the training to adapt to a different reality.”
You’ve spoken a few times now where you’ve said you’ve noticed a lot of improvements in the team, adjusting to what you want to see from them. Can you tell us what particularly you’ve found encouraging?
“I can see it. You were talking about fluidity. We are more fluid, you can see more of that. You can see that we can maintain the ball. We create more chances. You can see the players understand the position quite well. You can see the wing-backs more attacking, with more courage, more bravery in the last third, you can see that (Patrick) Dorgu and (Diogo) Dalot are finishing the play. All these things we are controlling better, the transitions with the three defenders. So the small details that sometimes are hard to see, but I see the games like three times, I can see the training and I can understand they are improving.”
I know you want to focus on the games, but we have a huge summer coming up for Manchester United. From your perspective, how vital is getting things right this summer? Especially in terms of recruitment?
“I think it’s crucial. I think we are trying to do everything as soon as possible. If you look at the schedule of teams we will not have the Club World Cup, so that means that we are going to have a pre-season.
“If you look at the next years, we are going to have a World Cup then a European Championship. So this window is going to be massive to work on our base.
“I think it’s clear for everybody here that is going to be crucial and we have to take advantage of that. We will not have a next pre-season. It will not be like that. So we need to do everything soon as possible to be prepared for having everybody for the pre-season to start after a season like this.
“We need to show something. That is not a debate. So I don’t want that conversation of we need a lot of time. We need time, maybe to win the league, but we need to improve a lot after this season.”
In terms of recruitment and the characteristics you want to see from players, what do you look for in the market?
“I will not talk about that now because I have my players and I know that my players are listening. I just want to improve my players because a lot of qualities are there, and I have to help them to be better. But, of course, I have one way of playing that is different from the former coach, so I need to choose some characteristics that we don’t have in the team.”
In England, there’s such a huge focus on transfers, whereas a lot of coaches and managers express the need to see improvement on the training pitch – that has to be often even more important than recruitment?
“I think it’s everything is connected. You need to be really good in every department, especially in this league. You need to be really good on the pitches. We need to improve our players but also, especially in moments our club is having, recruitment can change the way we go forward and can be crucial.
“So when I say about recruitment, it’s not just the big names and to spend a lot of money. It’ sometimes the player who is 17 years old, that is in another top club and is finished his contract and we can use the Manchester United brand to bring that kid. It’s sometimes that the recruitment means to pay attention to these kids that have a lot of talent, but don’t have the space in different clubs to try to bring them here. And then the academy, we are improving that. You can see that we have some players with quality there so that is not recruitment, but is really important for us. So it’s everything connected. Improving the players that we have. To go outside and to look inside also to bring some young kids.”
Ayden Heaven is a great example of that because you seize the opportunity, you bring him in, and already he’s showing the qualities that he has…
“Yeah. And we have to give credit to Jason (Wilcox – Man Utd technical director). Jason did a great job. He’s paying attention to those details. Ayden is a kid that arrives here, worked really well and then with some injuries, he had the opportunity and shows a lot of qualities. So that can also change your recruitment. So if we we’re thinking ‘Licha [Lisandro Martinez] has an injury, we need a left-footed centre-back’, but now we have this kid, so we can save money for another thing. So that is really important and the door is open for young kids.”
You have spoken about being in a rush for success here. You are not shirking the challenge, if anything, you are putting the pressure on yourself…
“Yeah, I think it’s my job and that I also know myself quite well. I cannot spend a lot of time in the halfway. I know myself, I’m not going to handle this type of life. So I’m all for and I really, really think that in the future we can win the Premier League. I don’t know when, it’s going to take time – you can see the club at the moment – but I want to put that pressure on myself because I will not stay in the middle ground and try to use excuses. It’s not in me. And I know that I am not going to handle this kind of life.”
