When Ruben met Gary: Read the key quotes

You can watch the conversion in full via the Sky Sports YouTube channel, or during Sunday’s broadcast from Portman Road (kick-off 16:30 GMT). You can also read the key points from the Q&A here…

LIFE AT UNITED

Asked about his first full week as a Red, Ruben says: “First impression is that it's so big, with a lot of departments. I come from a small country, of course, a big club in the small country. Here is a different world. You have a lot to do… you are not just a coach. You have to be something more. So it's a little bit different, but I think I'm prepared for that. And this is Manchester United. It doesn't matter. The last years, you feel the weight of the history and you want to be part of that. You know, you feel that if you win here, it will be different than in every club in England. You can feel that, but you also understand that the responsibility is big and it's going to be tough. We will have really hard moments, but in the end, I truly believe that we are going to succeed.”

CONFIDENCE IN AN IDEA

Pressed on his self-belief, Ruben speaks at length and shows his respect to our previous managers: “I follow the sport, not just the games, but what happened with the other coaches. I know that you can win and you have Erik [ten Hag]. Erik was amazing in Ajax. For me, he built the best two teams outside the five strongest leagues. It's not just that, but I have one idea. I know what to do when I know what to do. It could go wrong, I know, but I'm comfortable because I know that. Step one, step two, step three. And with that, I have confidence that we are going to achieve something.

“One idea is that when the ball is in one place and we are with the ball, or without the ball, every player has the same idea. Imagine that one guy receives the ball between the lines and he turns, every guy in the team knows what to do and everybody thinks the same. So it's quite simple like that. You can call it hard work, being professional, all that stuff. But in my mind, one idea, one identity, everybody knows, everybody has the same idea when the ball is here, there or there. So that's quite simple. One idea is to understand the game in the same way, see the game in the same way, do the things in one way.”

 

Watch Ruben Amorim's first interview right now! https://t.co/x0iIfPYrg3

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 22, 2024

A FOCUS ON FITNESS

On his mid-season appointment and implementing a new system, Ruben says: “Of course we don't have time to train. It's a new system, but you imagine that you have a line of five or a line of four. The principles are the same. If you want to press with one and do a second line, you can do a second line with four guys or three guys. So I think it's more than a system. It's the principles that you have to teach. And for that we need also time. When I think the problems that we will have is more in the way you do things with the speed, with the intensity, then they need to learn how to play with five or four in the back. They are professional players. All the players are internationals, so I think I'm more stressed about the way you do things than the way they have to do [it] with four or five defenders, so that is quite simple for me.”

BECOMING BETTER ATHLETES

Asked if he will move our defensive line higher up the pitch, Amorim explains: “The first thing I think we have to be is better athletes. That is something that you can acknowledge when you are here and we see the data.

“When I say fitter it is not thinner or nothing about that. It is the data; you have to understand the data to press high. What is the average metres that you have to run. We like to run and to sprint. You have all this data and you have to cope with that. So you already know your goal is to reach that. Of course, you play with the ball, if you can run a lot, but if you don't understand the game, it doesn't matter. But the first point. To press high you have to be very fit and you have to cope with the demands of pressing high.”

HOW WE CAN IMPROVE

“I think one of the problems that we have is with the ball. I think we lose the ball too fast. We win the ball. We lose the ball. And you cannot press high all the time. So you have to keep the ball and understand that you have to be in the position to start one play. This is something that with the ball we can press better. So the focus this week also was in that part. If you don't lose the ball, we can push higher. If you are higher, you can press better. It's like a snowball. Everything is connected. But if I know how to do it, I will do it in the snap of the fingers. So we need a lot of time. But during this time we have to win games and we have to manage. So what’s important for me is that they have to understand the game. If you have to defend inside the goal of Onana, we will defend inside the goal of Onana. If you have to press in the opposite side, we will do it. But we have to understand the game.”

SETTING STANDARDS

On what players do during international breaks, Ruben says: “The first thing, it was five days off. The second thing is they received information of five days off. And they are big boys. They have kids, so they decide what to do. I think the main question here is, as a club, we have to set the standards and have to manage that. That is my decision, if they can have five days, as a coach, or three days to rest and you cannot fly. This is something that I, as a club, has to decide.

“But we cannot put this on the players. They told them they have five days off so they can fly anywhere, because nobody in the club says you cannot fly. So they have to live their lives because they are grown men and they have to decide these things. But us, as a club, has to change in these standards.”

BEING COMFORTABLE AT UNITED

“I know in this moment, our fans are with the mixed feelings, like, ‘I want to be excited, but I have been here [before] so I have to be… I'm a little bit afraid’. ‘It's the same story all the time, I can be disappointed’. What I can say is that I'm really excited. I'm not afraid to show it. But I've a clear idea that this will take time. Don't confuse my happiness with my naivety. It's not the same thing. I'm really happy. I know what to do. But I have an idea that we are going to suffer a little bit before improving in a way that you should improve.”

WORKING WITH OUR LEADERSHIP

“We can talk about, for example, that Sir Dave [Brailsford] is known to create cultures. Of course, it's different sports, but you can prove that he can create culture that wins and strong cultures. And we need that in the club. I think everybody, we don't need to hide that. We need to build that before, to build something else. We need to build that in our staff, in our way to see things. Then you have Dan [Ashworth]. Dan is well known here in England, and has the same position of [Hugo] Viana [at Sporting]. One of the things to be practical in that to explain is that it's important when a coach or a manager says something, you have someone like Dan that says the same thing to the players. This connection is so important in the club, and then the player is going to talk with the agent, and the agent will talk with them, and he will hear the same thing. This is so important because the players will feel there is no place to run or there is no place to hide, so we have to be on the same page. Then you have Jason [Wilcox] as the technical director. It's so important because for me, we need to improve Carrington with the youth teams. So we need to create a profile for the type of players that you want in the first team. And we have to improve.”

A GAME MODEL

Asked if the Academy teams will play in the same formation as the seniors, Ruben says: “For me, there's nothing to do with that. You have to have the same principles and you have to understand the profile of the players. If I need the number six, when you go up in the scale of youth teams, you have to work a little bit more specifically the type of six that we use. But when they are here, they can play in different systems. I think it helps. They have to understand the game. It's not understanding a system. They don't have to grow up playing in three, four, three. They have to understand the game.”

RECRUITMENT NOT A PRIORITY

“I'm really not thinking about that. I need to know the players. Then we are addressing that with Jason and with Dan. We have to improve the recruitment. But to improve the recruitment is the process. So you have to have the data. We have to put the profiles on point. They have to understand how I want to play and what I need for each position. This is very clear and we are trying to do that very, very fast. But this is the first moment. If we start without everything that the data, the physical data, that every position demands, the character of the player. If you don't have a clear process, we cannot start buying players. Our focus is to build that. And then when the window is open, we will see. But I'm not thinking about that in the moment.”

TARGETS ARE NOT PUBLIC

Asked about where in the league he wants to finish, Ruben says: “The first thing [is] I'm not thinking anything else than winning the next game. And people will say that I'm hiding the responsibility. You and the other guys will judge me for the position. I really don't care. I know that's why we are Manchester United and people expect to be on top for that. I know it's not. I don't have any goal at the end of the season. I have one goal for this game and then to the other game, so I have so much to do. I will focus on every game. What I can say is that we have the responsibility not just to fight for every game, but to win the game. It's going to be hard. That is the goal. But I will not tell you that we have to be here in the end, or there, on top four or on top six. I will be judged for that. But this is not my goal at the moment.”

SPEAKING WITH ROY KEANE AND SIR ALEX

“It was a player that I really liked. I know he's a little bit crazy. But he was a massive player. And I like players with character. I think they can improve. It's not just what Roy Keane did on the pitch, [it's] the way he influenced the others. I think that is very important. You must have this kind of player in the big clubs and I hope we will have in the future players like Roy Keane. Sir Alex Ferguson, you want to ask so many things. I think he will talk about horses. He told me that. I don't understand nothing about horses. But it will be amazing to meet that kind of character.”

Watch Ipswich Town v United live on Sky Sports this Sunday.