Ruben Amorim has dug into the video archives to help prepare his Manchester United team to face a Nottingham Forest side managed by Sean Dyche.
Dyche took over from Ange Postecoglou at The City Ground earlier this month and has only taken charge of two games to date, a 2-0 win over FC Porto in the Europa League and a Premier League defeat to Bournemouth by the same scoreline.
It means there is not too much evidence of how a Forest side under Dyche may play against United on Saturday but, in a bid to overcome that challenge, Ruben explained in his pre-match press conference that, in addition to the two aforementioned matches, he has watched some of his previous encounters with the new Forest boss.
You may remember that Amorim's first Premier League win as United head coach was against an Everton outfit managed by Dyche last December, while Ruben has also studied pre-season footage from his time at Sporting to help his current team gain an edge.
Scroll down for the full answer - to the third question - and every word from the first section of our head coach's media briefing before Forest away...
“He wants to go to this one – he’s not going to this one! It’s going to take time, he has started training with us but we had to change some things in the exercise for him so slowly he is going to get better. It’s really good. He gives us that edge in every training session, that is also really good for us. The rest of the guys we have one more day, I don’t know about Harry Maguire. I think the rest is fit.”
Saturday is a big game but it’s also the one-year anniversary of your appointment as manager. I appreciate you didn’t come in for a week after that and maybe 24 days until you took your first game, but how do you reflect on the past year?
“It was a journey. A big journey. It was tough. It was really tough, good moments, bad moments. I learned a lot, that is really important. I found out that even in my lower moments, I can stick with the things I believe and that is a good thing for anyone, to understand that. Today, the answer is different from three weeks ago. So, it’s important to understand that. It’s one of the biggest honours of my life to be here and I want to continue here for many years.”
“More or less. I watched the last game [4-0 win v Everton last December while Dyche was in charge], it was one of the first ones here that we won and we were so lucky in that game. You look at the result and it was not that result. It should not be that result. I watched [the games Dyche has taken charge of Forest in] against Porto, Bournemouth – the style of play is similar, different characteristics. I watched one game we did in pre-season with Sporting to try and understand how he played in that game, and it’s similar. He can change some characteristics of the players with the talent that they have, especially with [Morgan] Gibbs-White, [Elliot] Anderson, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi – very good players. We need to be prepared for a different game, against Brighton we had space to play. We are not going to have that space. We need to understand we are not being the same team away and at home, so we need to improve the way we control the environment, every tackle is a big moment for the opponents’ fans. So, we need to play better away. We are prepared for a very tough match.”
Afternoon Ruben, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo are two players who have struck up a really good relationship on and off the pitch, what have you seen with that but, also, how do you plan without them in a month’s time when they go to AFCON?
“We have time to suffer with that. We are going to struggle a little bit, we already knew. It’s going to be an opportunity [for others] because when I watch the training, there are players that should be playing. But it’s hard with one game to take some players from the team because they are doing well also, in the training and in the games. Other players are going to have the opportunity to help us, they are understanding the way we want to play. If we are improving on that, the change of characteristics are not going to change the idea or the momentum of the team, but let’s use Amad and Bryan in these games and then see in January.”
I’m not sure if you’re aware but a few months ago, when things were a bit more difficult here, Sean Dyche made some comments that if he was the United boss, he’d win more games playing 4-4-2. He also said you needed more time to implement your philosophy. Are we seeing that now and what do you make of those comments?
“First of all, maybe it’s true. If we played in the 4-4-2, maybe we win more games. I always said have a way of playing that is going to take a while and then, in the future, it’s going to be better. I can look at Sean Dyche as a manager and as a pundit. As a pundit, if you don’t say very strong things, I don’t want to watch you! I am the same. I can understand that it’s a completely different job, I know Sean Dyche is really smart. He knows how to play the game. He also understands that one thing is we are seeing and talking about the game, the other is to coach a team. So, I understand that. I have nothing to say, I just want to win the next one.”
Part two of the press conference will be available to read and watch across club platforms from 22:30 GMT on Friday evening.