Amorim happy with Garnacho’s response

Ruben Amorim says he is happy with Alejandro Garnacho’s response to being left out of the squad for Sunday’s Manchester derby.

The Argentina winger will hope to be back in action in Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham, with the head coach explaining that his selection of the travelling party will depend on Wednesday’s training session at Carrington.

The boss previewed the north London tie during his embargoed press conference and was also quizzed on Marcus Rashford again, in addition to the injury sustained by Mason Mount at the weekend.

See every word of the midweek briefing with journalists…

Hi Ruben, I understand fully that you need to get Marcus to his best level and you need him to stay here but, when a player says he’s effectively ready to leave. If he’s going to get to this top level here, he’s got to have full commitment and he’s got our full focus. Can you realistically expect that from a player who has come out and said I’m ready to leave?

“I cannot say more from from that interview or speak some more about Rashford. I’m focused on the team. What I expect is, every day, all the players during the training, outside the training, the engagement with the players. I talk about where it’s the way they dressed. I was just making a point. I don’t know how they dress. I see them as with a kit, just with a kit. I don’t know how they eat. I’m not looking at the plate. So it was to make a point. And that is a good question to put that I don’t care how my players dress, it was to make like a real focus on the detail. What I can say is that I expect the best of each one of them to prepare for the game. That’s what we are doing. To try to demonstrate to the players. The rest, we will take time. We will have time to address. My focus is to take the best of Marcus and take the best of our players.”

Can you realistically, in his present state of mind, get that focus?

“I don’t control that. It’s not my [remit]. What I can control is the way I see things to take my players to the games and to the training. That is my focus. The rest I don’t control. That is Marcus and the Harry Maguire part and all the players. So my focus is to set the standards, to see if the players can do it and then prepare for the games. That is my focus, that part I cannot answer.”

One of the other issues you’ve had to face over the last few days is the issue of team leaks. Are you going to do anything differently in preparation for this game? Are you going to speak to the players about it to help prevent it?

“Nothing and, nowadays, all the coaches know about [things] because I explain a lot of things about the team, the way we play. I want to play the positioning, etc. But I say that because I understand that the coaches have that information, just from seeing, one time, Manchester United play. So I’m not worried, really worried about that. And I also cannot control that. So I will do the same things. I prepare the same for games because for me, it’s more important for my players to go to the game with a clear idea of what and how to do it, than try to hide something to protect the leaking of the starting XI. That is not my focus. I’m not really worried about that.”

How’s Alejandro reacted to the disappointment of not being in the squad on Sunday. Have you spoken to him?

“Really good. Trained really well. He seems a little bit upset with me and that is perfect. I was really, really happy because I would do the same and he is ready for this game. So we’ll see in the end of this training.”

Was Marcus upset as well?

“Marcus was sick in this first training, but he trained really well on the day of the game.”

Just on Marcus again. How have you spoken to Jason [Wilcox] and the club? And is the club’s stance that they want Marcus to stay here long term?

“No, I didn’t speak with them. The interview was yesterday. I’m focused on Tottenham. I didn’t have the time. My focus is to prepare the team for Tottenham.”

As far as you know, the club’s stance is that they want Marcus to go and stay and he’s your player?

“Nothing’s changed. We believe in Marcus. Marcus is a player of Manchester United so there’s no change.”

So you dropped Marcus for the derby for sort of training reasons as you characterise it. Then he comes in yesterday, says these words that can’t be helpful to you as a coach who’s just arrived, when you’re trying to get your team to play. You just talked about your focus as a team. So with regard to that, will you speak to him just about this? Look, be a bit more careful about what you say?

“It’s hard to explain to you guys what I’m going to do. I’m a little bit emotional, so, in the moment, I will understand what to do. But my focus now is the players didn’t still arrive at Carrington. So I’m preparing for the game and then we will see. Let’s focus on the team. Not an individual player. So let’s see.”

Is your attitude to this sort of thing is that it can just happen? And actually at a big club like Manchester United just move on. Don’t make too big a deal of it…

“I know it’s a hard situation to comment on. If I give a lot of importance to it, it will have big, big headlines in the newspaper and, if I say that it’s not a problem, my standards are getting low. So I will deal with that. I understand that my focus is not to take the attention away from the game, from the team, what we did in the last game and put it on Marcus. What I’m saying is that the team is more important than the individual. We will assess at the right time. Let’s focus on the game, that’s all.

Part one: Press conference v Spurs Video

Part one: Press conference v Spurs

Press conference part one | Ruben Amorim is asked about Garnacho, Rashford and team news before Spurs away…

Can I just ask about Mason Mount? Is he available to face Tottenham?

“No, he’s not available. His injury, we will assess the amount of time. He’s seeing the specialists today, so we’ll see.

There’s no indication if it’s going to be a long thing or not?

“No, no, not at the moment. I think we’ll know more or less today. We’ll see.”

Is he okay personally because he seemed quite upset and obviously he’s had a lot of injury problems. He looked quite distraught when he came off?

“Yeah, he was really sad. And, in the dressing room, he was really, really sad. So we need to help him. Like I said, when a player is in this moment with a lot of injuries, then training and then this kind of schedule. A schedule without many training [sessions] with all the squad, to make the load that he really needs. We try to do it with a lot of exercises, but it’s not the same. It’s hard and then you have to maintain the load. Then we have to travel. With the travel, you cannot train, so it’s really hard for them. We’ll try to manage, to find a better way to recover these kind of guys like Mount and Shaw, because after a few weeks and a few months, they will be ready to cope with a lot of games.”

As you say, you were a former player. If you were left out of a team and dropped from the squad, would you do an interview and let your views be known publicly or go and see your manager privately?

“I can say, if it was me, probably, I will speak with the manager. But guys, let’s focus on Tottenham. Tottenham is the most important thing.”

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