Ruben Amorim on Manchester Utd player's fitness ahead of huge week for the club with City and Lyon ahead
04/04/2025
Carrington Training Centre, Manchester, UK
04/04/2025
Carrington Training Centre, Manchester, UK
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00:00Hi Ruben, start off as always, how's the team looking? Is anyone back? Anyone ruled out?
00:05I think Kobe is returning to training, we'll see, and assess for this game already.
00:11Of course he cannot play a full game, it's a long time without training,
00:16so I think Mate has an issue, he has something during the game and we have to assess.
00:23I think the rest is normal.
00:26Obviously when the fixtures come out, City at home is one of the main fixtures
00:31United fans will be looking at, but you've got such a big game coming up on Thursday,
00:34you've got players coming back, will you be rotating?
00:36Is that something you can't afford to do in a fixture like this?
00:38No, we are going to focus game by game. We have a few games to recover from the last game,
00:44and then we'll have a few games to... I think the focus on that department
00:49will be more the next one in the Premier League.
00:54We want to win this game, we want to improve in the league table,
00:59and especially we want to win games, so we are going to have full focus on this game.
01:04Can you just assess Garnaccio at the moment?
01:08Obviously he's played a huge amount of games for a young player,
01:13maybe he's not quite delivering what people want,
01:17but equally he's still learning how to play the game. How do you assess him?
01:22I think he's doing the right things. Of course, like any player in our team,
01:29he has to choose better, especially in the last third.
01:33We have to improve, all the players have to improve.
01:35Maybe Bruno is the one that can do something, assist or score goals very easily.
01:42So we have to improve as a team to help Garnaccio,
01:44but Garnaccio is improving the way he defends, the way he runs.
01:48So he's working hard, he needs to score more goals and assist,
01:53that is clear, but also the other guys.
01:55I see him as a young kid that wants to improve, he's improving,
01:59but he's not in a great moment in that department like the other guys on the team.
02:07Ruben, just one to your reaction to Kevin De Bruyne announcing
02:11that he will be leaving Manchester City at the end of the season.
02:15How have you rated him as a player?
02:17That is easy. He was one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
02:23The time passes to everyone, so it's a natural thing.
02:29He improved the league, he was on the wrong side of Manchester.
02:35So I wish him good luck, it was a pleasure to see him in Portugal a lot of times.
02:45I hope he enjoys the rest of his life.
02:48Ruben, how do you assess the moment that Manchester City are in facing your team?
02:52Because obviously when you faced them at the Etihad earlier on in the campaign,
02:55they were struggling far more then.
02:57Do you think they've recovered from that or do you still see some of the same problems?
03:01No, I'm more focused on our problems.
03:04I think we have bigger problems than Manchester City.
03:09They had that run in that moment, but they improved.
03:13They can play in different ways.
03:16It's really hard to understand and to think how they are going to face us.
03:21They have maybe the best coach in the world.
03:27They have top players, so it will be a difficult match.
03:33But like I said, I'm so focused on improving my team
03:36that I'm not worried about the improvements of Manchester City.
03:41I just try to understand how Manchester City are going to play
03:44to help my players to be on top of their game.
03:47Was the win there the best moment you've had as United manager so far?
03:51I don't know, it's hard to...
03:54Sometimes I'm really happy with the small things, not with the big things.
03:58I don't see one game, especially in this kind of club,
04:01but in the former clubs I don't see one win as a special moment.
04:06A special moment is to be really competitive to win titles.
04:09That is the biggest moment.
04:11Winning games you can win, even in third division you can win
04:14against the best team in the country.
04:16So I don't see it that way.
04:18Mo Salah has been training for nearly four weeks now.
04:21Is he fit enough to start?
04:23He can start, but we have to manage his minutes still.
04:30Just on that, I think his last start was against City.
04:33This is a big run-in for the club, but for him in particular,
04:36could this be the making of him at United given the injury issues he's had?
04:40I don't know. The important thing is not to speak about that too much.
04:44If not, he's going to think all the time,
04:47it's my time, I have to do it.
04:49So let's train a lot of times,
04:52getting the load in his body and forget about that.
04:57That is really important because the mind is sometimes more important than the body.
05:00It's one more play that is fit to play.
05:03We'll see on Sunday.
05:06You said just then that special moments are winning titles.
05:09I think Sunday is your 20th Premier League game.
05:11You've got 22 points from a possible 57.
05:14With that in mind, the club have got this grand plan
05:17of winning a title in three years' time.
05:20Is it realistic for the club to be thinking in that way,
05:23given that points tally that you've got?
05:25Is that unfair? Does that put extra pressure on you as a manager
05:28when the club comes out with these grand visions of winning a title,
05:31which seems, to the outsiders at least, very unrealistic?
05:34Of course, I understand that I'm not naive.
05:38What I don't want is...
05:40Sometimes it's for me.
05:42I don't want to think that we need a lot of years to be competitive.
05:45I cannot think like that.
05:47I cannot manage that. It's not in me.
05:50That's why I'm putting pressure on myself.
05:53I know that we are not going to be the biggest contender
05:59in the next year or two years.
06:01I know we need to do a lot of things.
06:04We are doing a lot of things, putting some standards.
06:08Sometimes we change players,
06:11sometimes because they are not just here.
06:13Sometimes they have to learn how to adjust to our new standards.
06:17I know that, so it's really hard to do something like that in one year.
06:21Then we have to change a lot of things.
06:23We are changing a lot of stuff.
06:25We are changing a lot of things inside the club.
06:28I know that it's going to take time, but I will not think like that.
06:31I will not say that I need a lot of years.
06:34I cannot manage that.
06:36For me, it's like we are preparing something
06:39that we have to change a lot next year.
06:42Next year is our goal.
06:45I'm not saying that we are going to win the title next year.
06:49I'm not crazy.
06:51What I'm saying is that I don't want this conversation
06:54that we need a lot of years and let's keep it calm.
06:57No, we are in a rush.
06:59Next year, we are suffering a lot for next year to be so much better.
07:03That is our goal.
07:05Sometimes things can happen.
07:07I don't want to be that guy that is here saying that we need a lot of time.
07:11I will not be that coach.
07:15You just said that you are in a rush to win a Premier League title.
07:18When you see City have quite an average season
07:20and they are in a position where they are able to spend 180 million in January
07:23and you are talking about maybe in the summer
07:25having players have to leave before players can come in,
07:27is that not quite daunting to see that they are one of the teams
07:30that you have to catch and they are able to do this
07:32when perhaps you aren't able to do that?
07:34Not just Manchester City, but other teams.
07:37They are already in a place that we need a lot to catch them
07:42and they will improve for sure next season.
07:45Again, I just want to focus on our strengths
07:48and then try to use our club to try to bring one or two players, big players.
07:54I don't know.
07:55Sometimes big players for me is different from you.
07:58What I'm saying is that we need to focus.
08:01We are doing all the stuff for next season to be better and so much better.
08:06If we are going to win something, I don't know.
08:08It's going to take like four years, that was in the memo.
08:11I don't know.
08:12In my idea, I cannot manage again.
08:14I will not manage this thing of in four years I will try something.
08:18For me, we will start next season.
08:21We need to be so much better because this is a massive club
08:25and the pressure is that.
08:26So I want to put that pressure on me and everybody here.
08:30James.
08:31Rupert, just on that, in the past some of your predecessors as United manager,
08:36you know, they're finishing the top four and maybe finish second, third
08:39and they've talked about trying to get above City, get above Liverpool.
08:43Is the reality of the challenge you face now,
08:46it's not just Liverpool or Arsenal City,
08:48there are clubs like Villa and Newcastle and Brighton,
08:52who while United have gone down, have all increased
08:56and you've got these clubs to actually get past first
08:58before you can even think about toppling a Liverpool or an Arsenal or a City.
09:03I think the focus must be how to improve our team in every aspect.
09:08So if we think like that, of course the Premier League is so different.
09:12When everybody says, and I have a lot of people saying that
09:15Sir Alex Ferguson took like three, four years to win something.
09:21It's not possible nowadays because you have to speak three times
09:24and give three interviews before each game.
09:27So the pressure is completely different.
09:28And then any team nowadays in Premier League can win.
09:32So it's going to be really important again.
09:35But we are Manchester United.
09:37There is a lot of good things.
09:39There is bad things.
09:40That is the pressure.
09:41No matter what the context, we need to be there with the best ones.
09:45So of course we will have to face a lot of adversity
09:50and a lot of big teams, more than in the past.
09:53But let's focus on that and try to win the next game.