Van Nistelrooy's advice for Hojlund
Manchester United interim head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy has addressed the media ahead of his first European game in charge of the side.
Ruud held a press conference at Carrington and was asked what advice he would give current striker Rasmus Hojlund, who will be looking to find the net against PAOK and help inspire a first victory in the competition this term.
In advance of Thursday's 20:00 GMT kick-off, the Dutchman was also asked about Ruben Amorim's arrival as head coach later this month, but preferred to keep his focus on the task in hand.
He also disagreed the team is struggling to create chances and answered a question about the club's form in Europe over the past decade.
Ruud and Andre's press conference
PRESS CONFERENCE | Before the game, make sure you watch Ruud and Andre's compelling media briefing...
NO CONTACT WITH RUBEN
"No, I didn't have contact, so far. So no changes in that. I don't know when yet either. It is difficult to comment on that now. I'm waiting for conversations to take place and, in the meantime, obviously the one thing that is the most important thing for this football club now is getting the work done, on a daily basis, and the game coming up tomorrow in Europe. A European night at Old Trafford, against the Greek champions, second in the league currently. I welcome Ruben, I'm here to help him and that is the situation at the moment."
A BIG RESPONSIBILITY
"As I said, I'm focusing on the players that are currently fit. That's my job, [to] manage them as good as I can. I'm so focused on today and tomorrow, to do well for the short spell I'm responsible for this football club. I take that as a big responsibility."
ADVICE FOR HOJLUND
"My advice? Stay calm and believe in himself, believes in his qualities. Like I do and his team-mates do. He knows he's young and he's promising and the daily work he puts in will pay off in the end. Not only for him but his team-mates. And I'm confident in that. I mean, most goals are scored in the penalty area, it's where we want to get our players as much as we can, but it depends on the games. There have been games where we've arrived many, many times, creating many chances. Unfortunately, we couldn't convert them all and that cost us a couple of results. But you have to deal with circumstances. When it's needed, to hold up play and get players into the third-man position and play on from there, he does a brilliant job [with that] as well. And, of course, he is a guy who can change a game in a second, like with the penalty moment [against Chelsea]. We just need one or two in the box, and you can be him but it can be the others as well, so that's a threat we always have."
WE ARE MAKING CHANCES
"I don't agree we didn't create enough chances. I think, if you look at the stats, we are one of the teams creating the most chances and it's the conversion [that is letting us down]. It's why I said I'm not worried. We're creating the chances and, with the talent we have, they are still young. Not only the two you mentioned [Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee] but [there are] others as well with lots of potential. If the results will keep coming, confidence will rise. That's the key thing to scoring goals: confidence. I think the guys will do that and, hopefully, carry on in tomorrow's game."
PAOK THE PRIORITY
"Like I commented before, the game is of high priority for us tomorrow. We don't look past the game to further games. We know we need all our attention on PAOK. We analysed them very well. We know they're the current champions, PAOK, and it's a big achievement. They're second behind Aris at the moment and have lots of talented players, experienced players and a strong side. They will be supported with 4,000 fans travelling and supporting the team. We are ready to face a very tough game tomorrow."
OUR RECENT EUROPEAN RECORD
"Well, I think it's a big question for me to answer, why it didn't work in the last 10 years. For me it's important and a reason why I arrived at he club, to help the club build for those years again, where there were successful times in Europe. Obviously, there was a Europa League final, if I remember, with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and a Europa League win, with Jose Mourinho. That was in the last 10 years? So I think that's big European successes. In that sense, Manchester United is always there to compete in Europe. It's what we want as well, and it starts again tomorrow."