Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim says his players will be well-equipped for Everton's visit in the Premier League this weekend.
Our new head coach earned his first victory against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday evening but the focus now quickly turns to Sunday's assignment in M16.
With the onus on climbing the table, Amorim said his players will have to push their limits against Sean Dyche's side.
Read every word from the press conference below...
Ruben you have done your first away game and you have done your first home game in the Europa League. What are you expecting from your first Premier League home match against Everton?
“Win. I am hoping to win. It is going to be a different match. [There will be] a lot of fighting, long balls, second balls. A quality coach that understands the league and understands the quality of the opponent. We need to have the ball because we have a short time to recover with the team. So I hope for a win and I hope to see different things from my team, like we did from Ipswich to now. With Everton, [we will be] without training and I expect to see different things and better things.”
Hi Ruben, I want to ask you about Diogo Dalot. He made a big difference tonight and he was named United's Player of the Season last season. Have you been looking forward to working with him and can he be a big part of this system as a wing-back?
Hi Ruben. I think everyone understands you have a difficult job coming in midway through the season. How can you compensate for the lack of time? Can you maybe do, I know you don't have a lot of time, but can you maybe do double training sessions? Or more videos? Is there any way you can speed up the process or is it impossible?
“I was a football player and football players, if a video is more than 12 minutes, they forget. They lose concentration so we have to work on imagine there is an indoor stadium, and we have that to do instead of video. We will do it like walking and jogging. It is a way to do it instead of showing videos. We have all the staff and for example Carlos [Fernandes] is with the strikers, and he will show individual moments. We will try to cope with that and everybody in the staff has a job and they are maybe more important than me. That is it. Trying to see the game and to see what is missing. They are very good players and they need to believe as we will show individual stuff, team stuff and work. If you cannot run then jog and make the same exercise, of course it is not the same, but you can manage to try and win games.”
“It is very powerful, we have to rotate him sometimes because he always looks fresh, but he is not like that, he is not a machine. I think he plays better on the right and we will manage to put him on the right. He is a very good player, very powerful that can play both sides and nowadays, a player that can play on both sides is perfect because you can put him in different positions. I expect the same as last year that you saw. A great player that can help the team and he is really a team player, you can feel it in every way, he leads the game and he is very important for us.”
Hi Ruben. I think everyone understands you have a difficult job coming in midway through the season. How can you compensate for the lack of time? Can you maybe do, I know you don't have a lot of time, but can you maybe do double training sessions? Or more videos? Is there any way you can speed up the process or is it impossible?
“I was a football player and football players, if a video is more than 12 minutes, they forget. They lose concentration so we have to work on imagine there is an indoor stadium, and we have that to do instead of video. We will do it like walking and jogging. It is a way to do it instead of showing videos. We have all the staff and for example Carlos [Fernandes] is with the strikers, and he will show individual moments. We will try to cope with that and everybody in the staff has a job and they are maybe more important than me. That is it. Trying to see the game and to see what is missing. They are very good players and they need to believe as we will show individual stuff, team stuff and work. If you cannot run then jog and make the same exercise, of course it is not the same, but you can manage to try and win games.”
Does this little run then sum up how hard it is going to be for you in these first few weeks? You have got no time to work with players and you are asking them to take on a lot of new information, on Sunday you are going to play an Everton team who have had the full week to prepare and look at how your team plays?
In terms of athleticism, you said you want them to be better athletes. Is it possible for a player this season to be able to make that step?
“Without training, you have to use the games. I felt and I don't know because I have to see the game, I felt we pressed a little bit higher. In Mason Mount, he did 60 minutes with high intensity. Rasmus [Hojlund] was dead in the end. The guys that are playing have to push more. Push the guys to the limit and the other guys have to train tomorrow. Luke Shaw did some minutes and then he is going to train now because we are three days away from some things we cannot do. We manage with all the staff on how we try to figure it out. [We have] some ideas on how to cope with that.”
“Yeah, it is what it is. We will rotate players and we will be ready. Today we have to use like four subs to manage the fitness, not the game, we managed the fitness today and we have to do it. We already know it will be like that; no excuses and we should be ready for Sunday. We have to win.”
In terms of athleticism, you said you want them to be better athletes. Is it possible for a player this season to be able to make that step?
“Without training, you have to use the games. I felt and I don't know because I have to see the game, I felt we pressed a little bit higher. In Mason Mount, he did 60 minutes with high intensity. Rasmus [Hojlund] was dead in the end. The guys that are playing have to push more. Push the guys to the limit and the other guys have to train tomorrow. Luke Shaw did some minutes and then he is going to train now because we are three days away from some things we cannot do. We manage with all the staff on how we try to figure it out. [We have] some ideas on how to cope with that.”
Hi Ruben, you mentioned Mason Mount there, the club invested a lot of money in him last summer and for whatever reason it hasn't worked out for him last year. Have you seen enough promise from him in the last couple of weeks that show he can be a part of your team moving forward?
Hi Ruben. You use wing-backs a lot during your managerial career, which is something United fans aren't traditionally used to seeing. Can you help explain what you necessarily want from your players in those wide positions and how that might be different to what they may be used to seeing?
“Today if I ask you guys what system I use, you saw more 4-4-2, in defending, I think? You agree? Then we put two wide players like the other 20 teams in the league. You have to change the characteristics. Dalot and [Tyrell] Malacia are more defenders because they defend in the back four and today, Amad and Antony they acted like a winger, and they stay open. What I want is a good one against one, to open the field, to play, to close the field when we lose the ball and it is the same in every team. I think the structure is more fluid than you guys think with the three defenders. Today we finished today without any centre-backs. So it was Casemiro, [Noussair] Mazraoui and Luke Shaw. I think it is more the characteristics of the players and not the real positions of the players.”
“First thing, he is working really hard and then you have to understand he is human also. He wants this really bad and that is the most important thing. He proved to all of you that he is a talented player. He was a European champion also and we believe a lot in him. He has to stay fit, like all the guys in the team, they are quality players, but they have to improve and believe in themselves. Today he did a great job, and you see in some moments and details that you can see that Mason Mount is a proper footballer. We believe a lot in him, and I especially believe a lot in Mason Mount.”
Hi Ruben. You use wing-backs a lot during your managerial career, which is something United fans aren't traditionally used to seeing. Can you help explain what you necessarily want from your players in those wide positions and how that might be different to what they may be used to seeing?
“Today if I ask you guys what system I use, you saw more 4-4-2, in defending, I think? You agree? Then we put two wide players like the other 20 teams in the league. You have to change the characteristics. Dalot and [Tyrell] Malacia are more defenders because they defend in the back four and today, Amad and Antony they acted like a winger, and they stay open. What I want is a good one against one, to open the field, to play, to close the field when we lose the ball and it is the same in every team. I think the structure is more fluid than you guys think with the three defenders. Today we finished today without any centre-backs. So it was Casemiro, [Noussair] Mazraoui and Luke Shaw. I think it is more the characteristics of the players and not the real positions of the players.”