Key quotes: Ruben's pre-Liverpool press conference
Ruben Amorim has been speaking to the media at Carrington, before getting his first taste of Manchester United’s rivalry with Liverpool this weekend.
Sunday’s 16:30 GMT kick-off will see our head coach come up against Arne Slot’s Merseysiders for the first time since arriving at Old Trafford in November, and the boss will take his team to Anfield looking to get back to winning ways after a tough run of four defeats on the bounce.
Those losses to Tottenham, Bournemouth, Wolves and Newcastle United came across a tricky 12-day period in December, but the conclusion to our festive period's busiest spell has seen Amorim and his staff have nearly a full week with the players on the training pitch to prepare for the visit to the Premier League table-toppers.
That time is a clear benefit heading into the game and something that Ruben elaborated on during the first part of his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Below is a round-up of the key quotes from the section of the media session, in which the 39-year-old also provided the latest on Amad and Harry Maguire’s expiring contracts, discussed our approach to the January transfer window and addressed Marcus Rashford’s availability.
Those losses to Tottenham, Bournemouth, Wolves and Newcastle United came across a tricky 12-day period in December, but the conclusion to our festive period's busiest spell has seen Amorim and his staff have nearly a full week with the players on the training pitch to prepare for the visit to the Premier League table-toppers.
That time is a clear benefit heading into the game and something that Ruben elaborated on during the first part of his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Below is a round-up of the key quotes from the section of the media session, in which the 39-year-old also provided the latest on Amad and Harry Maguire’s expiring contracts, discussed our approach to the January transfer window and addressed Marcus Rashford’s availability.
Part one: Press conference v Liverpool Video
Part one: Press conference v Liverpool
Press conference part one | Ruben discusses the mood, Joshua Zirkzee, new contracts, transfers and Liverpool away...
TIME TO TRAIN
“We had more time to train, two days in a row, to train with the team. I think that can help us, given the environment. Of course, it’s a difficult moment because we are losing too many matches. We are going to face the best team this year but, like I said, we are training. We feel more the team, we prepare more the team and we want to improve the performance compared to the last game.”
WHAT’S BEEN WORKED ON?
“Everything. The small things, the transitions, I think you can see the lack of possession in the last game in the first half, the control of the game. Everybody was so anxious, so nervous. The crosses are really important, set-pieces. It's hard to say one thing. We work on a lot of things, but I think the possession, the way we control the tempo of the game, the understanding of where you should play was the main focus this week.”
“We had more time to train, two days in a row, to train with the team. I think that can help us, given the environment. Of course, it’s a difficult moment because we are losing too many matches. We are going to face the best team this year but, like I said, we are training. We feel more the team, we prepare more the team and we want to improve the performance compared to the last game.”
WHAT’S BEEN WORKED ON?
“Everything. The small things, the transitions, I think you can see the lack of possession in the last game in the first half, the control of the game. Everybody was so anxious, so nervous. The crosses are really important, set-pieces. It's hard to say one thing. We work on a lot of things, but I think the possession, the way we control the tempo of the game, the understanding of where you should play was the main focus this week.”
WE HAVE RESPONSIBILITY TO WIN
“In football, [in] one game, anything can happen. If you talk about the season, then, almost every time, the best win. In the moment, they are better than us but we can win any game. We have to focus not on the context but on the performance. What we have to do is simple things and I think we have to improve the simple things to play these kind of games. We have the responsibility to play to win the game.”
CONTRACT SITUATIONS
“Amad is near. Harry Maguire we’re going to trigger our option. I spoke with him this morning and I told him he has to improve his game on the pitch. We need him a lot and also he needs to improve as a leader. We all know the situation that he had here but we need him a lot in this moment so we are going to trigger happily the option for Harry.”
“In football, [in] one game, anything can happen. If you talk about the season, then, almost every time, the best win. In the moment, they are better than us but we can win any game. We have to focus not on the context but on the performance. What we have to do is simple things and I think we have to improve the simple things to play these kind of games. We have the responsibility to play to win the game.”
CONTRACT SITUATIONS
“Amad is near. Harry Maguire we’re going to trigger our option. I spoke with him this morning and I told him he has to improve his game on the pitch. We need him a lot and also he needs to improve as a leader. We all know the situation that he had here but we need him a lot in this moment so we are going to trigger happily the option for Harry.”
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JANUARY TRANSFER ACTIVITY
“While the window is open, we can try to do something and we will try to do something, but I think, in the next weeks, we are going to have more time to train and we can improve, that’s the only way. We had a lot of games without training, now we will have more space to grow. You can see that the context is worse in this moment, as we had a lot of losses, so we have to manage everything. The only solution we have is to work hard. We cannot change the last game, we can work on it, evaluate, but we cannot change it. So, let's focus on the next one and work hard during the week.”
RASHFORD UNLIKELY TO PLAY
“At the moment he's ill, he's not training, so we'll see in the future, but this is like a normal player. Then I make a selection, it's the same. I think he's going to be out this week. He's not training so we will see but I think, this week, he's out.”
“While the window is open, we can try to do something and we will try to do something, but I think, in the next weeks, we are going to have more time to train and we can improve, that’s the only way. We had a lot of games without training, now we will have more space to grow. You can see that the context is worse in this moment, as we had a lot of losses, so we have to manage everything. The only solution we have is to work hard. We cannot change the last game, we can work on it, evaluate, but we cannot change it. So, let's focus on the next one and work hard during the week.”
RASHFORD UNLIKELY TO PLAY
“At the moment he's ill, he's not training, so we'll see in the future, but this is like a normal player. Then I make a selection, it's the same. I think he's going to be out this week. He's not training so we will see but I think, this week, he's out.”
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