Ruben Amorim has made it clear he is open to deploying a back-four formation while Manchester United have players away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The boss will be without Amad, Noussair Mazraoui and Bryan Mbeumo for at least our next three matches, while they are representing their countries at the tournament in Morocco.
It meant Amorim was asked about the wing-back positions in his preferred 3-4-2-1 system during Friday's press conference, as Amad and Mazraoui have both played predominantly in the wide roles when available this season.
His response suggested that United could swap wing-backs for full-backs and play a four-man defence in the coming weeks, something we saw during Monday's 4-4 draw with Bournemouth.
Keep reading to see Ruben's answer, in relation to the final question of his pre-match press conference before Sunday's game away to Aston Villa. Below, is every word from part two of that media briefing...
You mentioned then [in part one] about leadership and issues like that. Obviously, you’re going to look to sign players maybe in January, in the summer. Do you think you need to bring in players who can deliver that? Do you need to sign big characters? Obviously you were linked with Emi Martinez in the summer as well as Senne Lammens, do you need some big characters to come in and maybe change the dressing room?
The thing that stands out about Kobbie Mainoo’s half-brother, because you say your door is always open, are you not surprised that Kobbie hasn’t come to you and said: ‘Look, that’s nothing to do with me, boss. I just want to make sure you’re clear about that.’ While that’s going on, surely that speaks about Kobbie’s character, maybe he hasn’t got that in him to be proactive…
“It’s a shy boy but it’s not his responsibility. He’s responsible for his acts and his act was to play well in the last game, so I’m just focused on that. I had a situation in Sporting when my brother wrote something on the internet and I had to answer for that and my explanation is that he has his life, he has his opinion, it’s nothing to do with me so I will do the same with Kobbie. Kobbie needs to fight for his job, I think that is not a bad thing to be on the bench of Manchester United at 20 years old. I remember Ronaldo was on the bench, Rooney was on the bench sometimes, Veron was not playing, I remember the history of Manchester United and nobody didn’t fall. So, let’s continue trying to avoid the nonsense and the noise. Believe it or not, I just want to help the team to win and help Kobbie to be a better player.”
“Guys, it’s hard to talk, first of all, about the future and then the profound things here. I’m just focused on the next game, let’s go step by step. We have a big match, we need to win, to try to find different ways of playing because especially without Amad and Bryan we lost some characteristics that is hard to find. So, let’s focus on that and then let’s see the rest.”
The thing that stands out about Kobbie Mainoo’s half-brother, because you say your door is always open, are you not surprised that Kobbie hasn’t come to you and said: ‘Look, that’s nothing to do with me, boss. I just want to make sure you’re clear about that.’ While that’s going on, surely that speaks about Kobbie’s character, maybe he hasn’t got that in him to be proactive…
“It’s a shy boy but it’s not his responsibility. He’s responsible for his acts and his act was to play well in the last game, so I’m just focused on that. I had a situation in Sporting when my brother wrote something on the internet and I had to answer for that and my explanation is that he has his life, he has his opinion, it’s nothing to do with me so I will do the same with Kobbie. Kobbie needs to fight for his job, I think that is not a bad thing to be on the bench of Manchester United at 20 years old. I remember Ronaldo was on the bench, Rooney was on the bench sometimes, Veron was not playing, I remember the history of Manchester United and nobody didn’t fall. So, let’s continue trying to avoid the nonsense and the noise. Believe it or not, I just want to help the team to win and help Kobbie to be a better player.”
I do believe it, so what you’re saying about Rooney, Ronaldo and all these big players on the bench, is that something you’re trying to cultivate then? That there’s competition here…
You let in four goals on Monday but I think that it would be fair to say Senne has played very, very well since he came into the first team, not his fault [the four goals] of course. It could have worked out differently, you could have signed [Emi] Martinez, given how this season’s gone so far are you happy with the choice that you made?
“We are really happy with Senne, we have a game against Aston Villa, I don’t want to comment [on] anything else, just focus on that. I’m really happy with the goalkeepers, and I’m really happy to have Senne.”
And happy with how he’s doing so far?
“Yeah, for sure.”
Scott McTominay recently said that he dismissed the narrative that players improve and their careers change for the better when they leave Man United, would you say Jadon Sancho’s situation proves that point and supports what McTominay is saying?
“No, again I don’t have nothing to say about that. Sancho is not our player in the moment, he’s playing for the opposition, he’s not going to play [because he’s ineligible as he’s on loan]. He’s a very good player. I have nothing to say about that and if I’m going to comment [on] everybody that speaks about Manchester United, I will not do anything else. I just want to win the next game against Villa.”
“No guys, I’m not trying to say: ‘Kobbie, you are a big player here, let’s put you on the bench to show something.’ No, what I’m saying is the opposite. I’m just not putting Kobbie [on the pitch] sometimes because I understand that this is not the right guy to start the game. Maybe the next game [on Sunday], he’s going to start. If he plays well, he’s going to show everyone this guy cannot take me out the team, and I will be so happy. So, I don’t care. I don’t want to show nothing to anyone. I’m just saying that I’m trying to win games and to show to the players that if you do things right, you will play no matter the name.”
You let in four goals on Monday but I think that it would be fair to say Senne has played very, very well since he came into the first team, not his fault [the four goals] of course. It could have worked out differently, you could have signed [Emi] Martinez, given how this season’s gone so far are you happy with the choice that you made?
“We are really happy with Senne, we have a game against Aston Villa, I don’t want to comment [on] anything else, just focus on that. I’m really happy with the goalkeepers, and I’m really happy to have Senne.”
And happy with how he’s doing so far?
“Yeah, for sure.”
Scott McTominay recently said that he dismissed the narrative that players improve and their careers change for the better when they leave Man United, would you say Jadon Sancho’s situation proves that point and supports what McTominay is saying?
“No, again I don’t have nothing to say about that. Sancho is not our player in the moment, he’s playing for the opposition, he’s not going to play [because he’s ineligible as he’s on loan]. He’s a very good player. I have nothing to say about that and if I’m going to comment [on] everybody that speaks about Manchester United, I will not do anything else. I just want to win the next game against Villa.”
With January approaching, have the club told you that there is money available if you want to buy players next month?
Just on the AFCON players, you’ll have maybe a shortage of wing-backs for the coming weeks, do you have any plans to play players there who maybe haven’t played at wing-back? Tyrell Malacia, I know we haven’t seen him since he’s come back into the squad…
“It depends on the way we play in that particular week but if we have to change for a back four, we change for a back four.”
“We will see. The only thing we know is we will only try to bring players that we think are going to be the future. It’s not going to be to save something in this moment, to cope with the losses of three players for AFCON, it’s not going to be like that. Even if we try to bring one player, maybe it’s not the position that we need more. We will try to bring now and [at] the end of the season players that are perfect for our future. So, I don’t know what is going to happen, but it is possible that we can do something.”
Just on the AFCON players, you’ll have maybe a shortage of wing-backs for the coming weeks, do you have any plans to play players there who maybe haven’t played at wing-back? Tyrell Malacia, I know we haven’t seen him since he’s come back into the squad…
“It depends on the way we play in that particular week but if we have to change for a back four, we change for a back four.”