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Thursday 06 February 2025 13:30
Ruben Amorim addressed journalists on Thursday ahead of Manchester United’s Emirates FA Cup meeting with Leicester City at Old Trafford.
United open the fourth round with a Friday 20:00 GMT kick-off, seeking to continue our run back to Wembley, where we defeated Manchester City in last season’s final to lift a 13th FA Cup.
Ahead of the tie, Ruben discussed injuries to Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw, the availability of new signings Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven, and plenty more.
Part one: Press conference v Leicester Video
Part one: Press conference v Leicester
Press conference part one | Ruben Amorim discusses injuries and our new signings before Leicester’s cup visit…
Hi Ruben, let’s start off with Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw. Are you able to offer any information on their injuries and the severity?
“Licha is a difficult situation. He’s going to be out for a while. We don’t know the extent of the injury but it’s an injury that is going to take time. Luke, just a little bit, one small issue in a different area from the last injury, so we’ll try to be careful with Luke.”
Dorgu and Heaven arrived, will they be going straight into the squad tomorrow?
“We’ll see. You guys have to wait for tomorrow! But they are ready to play and they are two more solutions to help us in this moment.”
Just on that. On Sunday, you said that the club was trying everything to do something on deadline day and, ultimately, nothing happened. Are you happy with the work that was done this window – do you feel more could have been done?
“What I feel is that the club is taking its time and we know the urgency of the moment, of the team, but I think everyone here doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that we did in the past. So, we have to improve the players that we have and to win some games and then in the summer, we will see. Like I said, we are being really careful with transfers because we did some mistakes in the past.”
Ruben, do you accept, therefore, that the position of the team in the table may not change that much? Marcus [Rashford] went, even though he wasn’t playing, Antony’s gone, [Tyrell] Malacia’s gone, they are experienced players, you haven’t brought in experienced players to replace them and you weren’t doing that well in the league to start with. Do you accept that people are just going to have to deal with that?
“No, I think it’s a moment that is hard to turn things around in a few games. It’s going to be like that, really hard until the end of the season. Then we are taking that risk that you talk about because we want a different thing in our team and we want different profiles. That is my area. It was my decision to do that. Like I said, we are taking some risks, but it’s the way we want to proceed. We want to win some games. We can improve our team, we will have time to train because I was always complaining about the [lack of] time to train. So now, we have time to train, we are going to improve the team, the players and, like I said, I want a certain type of players – different profile – and we are changing right away.”
Do you get concerned personally? You say it’s a risk… you’ve already lost five home games. Do you worry at the back of your mind that if results don’t change, everybody goes ‘well, that’s now your fault’ and you might come under pressure and what you want may not happen?
“Yeah, that is clear. It is also exciting! I know when I choose this profession that you have the risk of the results and I already knew when I came here, I look at the schedule, I look at the team and I understood that my decision of changing everything, taking these hard decisions in the middle of the season without new signings, it’s a danger for the coach. But since day one, with good results or bad results, I have a clear idea of what I want to do and I take these risks because, in the end, I think it’s going to pay off in the end. But I know, I’m not naïve, I already said that many times, that this is a sport of results and we are in a difficult situation.”
Ruben, this is the first time we’ve spoken to you since Marcus Rashford left the club. So, I’m just wondering how you left the situation with him personally and obviously he’s only on loan, so there’s a chance he could be back here in the summer and how could that potentially play out?
“Guys, in the summer, like we said before, we are fighting for our jobs until the summer. So I’m just focused on these games. Thankfully, about Marcus, he’s in Birmingham now, with Unai [Emery], so you can take the questions for these months to another coach. We are focused just on our players at the moment.”
Just on one of the questions about squad depth. You only have really four senior strikers [forwards], and the oldest of those is 23. That doesn’t seem like a lot of players in an important part of the pitch considering you want to go far in cup competitions?
“We have to find players to play in the different positions. We can say in the way we play with Dorgu, we have one more winger to play in both sides. Of course, it’s going to take time so it’s not going to solve all the problems. We have to improve. We create chances, we don’t score. We have many shots inside the box and we catch [hit] always one player, so these small things, I think we can improve. I think Amad can score more, Bruno [Fernandes] can score more, even Kobbie Mainoo can score more, playing in that position a little bit further up the pitch. So, we have to improve as a team, we have a little bit more time. Let’s see in the end of the season.”
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Thursday 06 February 2025 13:30
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