Every word from Ruben's press conference

The boss was asked about the form of Rasmus Hojlund, Antony's situation, needing to become less of a transition team and the desire to avoid adding to any fixture congestion.

See the full transcript of the discussion at Old Trafford, in advance of the 14:00 GMT kick-off...

Ruben, in the game just gone, you came out early for the second half. Has there been a case yet or a game yet where you’ve got angry with the players at half-time or you’ve had to get angry with them?
“No, I think the best thing to help the players is to be calm, to try to explain what we need to change. Then we will have time to be angry with them. I think and I say that, today, of course, we didn’t play well. First half, we suffered a lot but I felt some players were tired. And, when they are tired, they are trying and I have the responsibility to try to help them. Sometimes to change them. And that is my part. So I came out before the team because I had Antony out and I wanted to explain the situation of Antony, what I need from Antony, to go inside of the pitch. That was the only reason.”

Just on Antony, there is some speculation that he could leave on loan this month. Do you expect to keep him? Do you want to keep him?
“Like I said, I want to keep my players. I’m focused on this, these players. I don’t know what is going to happen. This window, we’ll see, but he did a good job today.”

Ruben, because you came in this season with no time to train, do you think this is going to be how it is until the summer? Up-and-down performances, good performances and bad performances, until you can get to the summer and actually have some time with them?
“Yeah, but I think it's going to be hard until the end of the season. It’s going to be a little bit of that rollercoaster. Then it depends, in the end, on the time you have to train and we are still in the cup. We have UEFA games for the Europa League. Then it’s important to also focus on next Thursday, to win and to try to be in that top eight. In that way, you can then take two games from the schedule and have a full week. So we are trying to do everything at the same time. So we’ve had, like, seven training [sessions] together in these 14 or 15 games. So it’s really hard but we have to continue and to try to win it. Sometimes playing good, sometimes playing bad. We’ll try to win games.”

Ruben, I appreciate that it’s probably the most demanding and intense league in world football. But, if the club bring a £50 million midfielder to the club, do you not expect that he could be able to play every three or four days? Talking about Ugarte, is it not a concern that he struggles to play back-to-back games in a tight space of time? Or is it just something he’s going to have to learn to get better at and adapt to?
“The players will get used to do that. I’m trying to be honest with you guys and I talk openly about the game. And you are focused on what I said about Ugarte. Ugarte was tired because he did a great job against Liverpool and against Arsenal and you see it. Maybe, if you look at the game versus Arsenal, maybe Ugarte and Bruno [Fernandes] were the best players. Against Liverpool, they were and they didn’t play against Newcastle. I think that has happened with all the players here in the Premier League. They can play but they don’t play the same way.”

It’s an adaptation?
“I think so, I think so. Also, it is my fault because if you lose the timing of the pressure, if I don’t explain it well, the pressure is always lost in that, and you feel it today. Mateus [Fernandes] was, with the number seven [Joe Aribo], creating a lot of problems for Manu because Manu was running against two guys. So it’s more my fault than his fault. He is going to get used to playing every three days.”

Ruben, I just just wondering, you’re talking about the number of games you’ve got coming up in a relatively short space of time. You also talked about hoping to keep certain players. Is it difficult to prepare for those games during the transfer window? Not necessarily knowing who will still be here at the end of the month?
“No, of course, we have some players and they are our players. So we have control on that. We decide on that. Sometimes, it is harder for the players because they have some information and, sometimes, you can feel it in every team and every summer. It is like that. So, for me, it is not hard, it’s harder to prepare for the game when we lose. When we win, we can manage everything – expectations, a bad mood for some players. So we’ll prepare for the game in the same ways. I’m just focused on the next game.”

Is a lack of time at Carrington one of the reasons why you’ve struggled a little bit when it comes to set-pieces because there was another goal from a corner today? Is that something you want to work on and get better at?
“Everything but today it was like, it seems like, a simple header. So, sometimes, you are in the moment that everything is against you. But, in the end, things change. We managed to win but, of course, we need to improve. We played against the best team, maybe in the world, with set-pieces [Arsenal]. We did a very good job and, like I explained to your colleague, this season it is going to be like that and we have to improve in all areas of our game.”

Hi, Ruben. Are you concerned by Rasmus Hojlund's lack of goals recently? No goals in eight games now and not only that he’s not getting the goals but he’s not really getting as many chances as he had?
“I think it’s a team problem and you can see it. It’s not just from now, it’s from the past. So we clearly have a lack of goals and a lack of threat. When you threaten the opponents, the opponents maybe don't press you so high. So everything is connected and all the players have moments in this season. I think, when we start this journey together, Rasmus was the player that was always scoring. So he can come back in the next game, we will see, but I think it’s more a team problem than a Rasmus problem.”

You were talking about investigating the reasons behind not being able to play at the same level against Arsenal and Liverpool, in games like this, and now you have Brighton. Do you think that’s maybe because this squad might be built to be a better fit to be reactive in transitioning rather than taking the lead in matches?
“I think this is something that you can see from the past and we were, in the past, a team of transition. And we still are. You can feel it – to create chances in the final third, we struggle. We struggle a lot but, for that, I think it’s the most difficult. I say that, before the game, it’s the most difficult moment to train, it’s that, against low blocks, trying to create situations. So I think, yeah, I think it is a team that feels more joy to play waiting for the play and then, in transition, creating problems. So it’s something that we have to change. To change, we need training. So to have time to change, we also need to win games and we have tried to do that.”