Ruben Amorim’s men are currently sixth in the Premier League after a run of three exciting wins, with the team clicking into gear ahead of Saturday’s one-year anniversary of his appointment. 

Encouragingly, the squad’s four summer signings – Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens – have all contributed positively to recent successes, fuelling excitement towards what this young and developing squad can achieve this season. 

As Wilcox explains during our interview at Carrington, nobody is getting carried away with the short-term ups and downs of results. Instead, everybody is focused on the bigger picture and doing everything possible to driving higher standards…

It’s a glorious day here at Carrington, Jason, and the mood seems to be really good after those three successive Premier League wins…
“The mood has not changed to be honest. When you lose football matches, of course we are disappointed. I think the Brentford game stands out as a game when we were extremely disappointed in the way we played, but in all the other games I think we have had moments of really good play and we are seeing progress. We have just got to keep this going now. Not get too carried away when we win and not get too disappointed when we lose. We know we are making progress. It will be another tough game at the weekend. Ruben and the guys will be fully prepared, we know what we are going to get at Nottingham Forest, a new manager, they have got a good playing squad, we saw that last year, and it is going to be a really difficult game for us.”

The new signings all seem to have bedded in really well, haven’t they? They fit into the culture of the club and they have really bought into it. It was great work by everybody getting that calibre of player in over the summer...
“Yeah the guys have settled in really, really quickly. I think especially when you look at Matheus and Bryan, they have played in the Premier League and they have lived in England, so there is a quicker transition. I think for Benji and Senne, you look at their transition and they have transitioned really well. We are really pleased. They are two young players, two for the future, but they have settled in amazingly well. They are all good guys, even from last summer's window, they are top professionals, top players and we are really optimistic we are going in the right direction. We have a clear plan. I am sure there are going to be bumps in the road but we have just got to make sure we stay calm irrespective of the noise outside. I see the intensity, I am at training every day, I see the way that they train, the way they apply themselves, the way they communicate and get on with each other. Like I say, when you lose football matches you are always going to be a little bit disappointed and especially at this club.”

You did identify in the summer, you and the team, that we needed goals and the goals have started to arrive. You have got to be quite proud of that as a team, the way it is working out and the fruits of that work...
“Obviously we have plugged in with some really talented players, you know, they create and score goals. But when you score goals it is not just about the front guys, it is the way that we build up, the idea, the way that Ruben works with the players every day on the idea and how to create chances. When we look at the amount of chances we are creating, we are now just starting to convert but we have got to keep it going. We've won three games in a row but we've got to make it four. The only way we are going to get this club back to the top is by driving standards. The players and Ruben are certainly doing that on a daily basis.”

You mention the Forest game up next. Are preparations going well?
“Preparations are going well. The players came in on Sunday to do their recovery, Monday they took the day off and now they are spending the time preparing for the game, understanding what we are going to get at Nottingham Forest, how they play, it's obviously a new manager so it's slightly difficult to assess what they have done previously, but ultimately the have got good players, the home crowd will get behind them and it's important that we go there, we compete in the early stages of the game and then we will see what we get.”

As we head to the festive fixture list, how are the preparations going for that longer-term vision?
“We have got a clear plan. We know what we have got to do, we know the areas of the team that we have got to improve. For us to get in the top four and consistently challenge for Champions League places, win Champions Leagues, win Premier Leagues, we have got to invest in the squad. We have got to buy the right players. The right players who are talented but also who can deal with the pressure, who can take the squad forward. It is not always about just signing elite talent, they have got to have the right character and be somebody who can bring something different to the team. We are really happy with where we are, we know we have got to improve and, you know, the players, they will never be satisfied, Ruben will never be happy, I will never be happy, it is just how we are built. We are always looking to improve. Anybody who works at Manchester United should be thinking the same and they do, with the standards we are driving every day.”

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