00:00Mattis and Ben obviously interpret that number nine role in very different ways.
00:05How much of what the opposition is going to do comes into your thought process when you're selecting those?
00:10Do you have to work on it in training because I think it's clear they make very different runs.
00:14Is that something you have to work out and understand it as well in training?
00:18They definitely do. They obviously have different strengths.
00:21I think there's the principles of what we're trying to achieve as a team
00:27in the way we're trying to play. Hopefully it doesn't change too much with personnel
00:33but it definitely gives us different options if that makes sense.
00:36We still want to play a certain way, try certain things.
00:39But there's a different threat to Ben, to Mattis, to Brian, to Marcus, to whoever's up there.
00:47So it's a little bit on the opposition, a little bit on the balance of our team as well
00:53and certain things we want to attack, certain spaces or whatever that may be.
00:58Sometimes it's in possession, sometimes it's without the ball
01:00and certain things we've got to defend in certain areas.
01:03So there's quite a bit of that that goes into it.
01:06Hi Michael. I know you didn't play so much, but with Marcus,
01:10the fans were saying his name, it feels like he's in a good place.
01:13And from your perspective, is that gone as well as you could have hoped since he came back?
01:18Really pleased with Marcus, yeah. Really pleased with him in so many ways.
01:24I think it's pretty obvious with his performances. Again, he was a real threat again.
01:29On Sunday, unfortunately not getting a little bit more success, but he was a real threat.
01:36Yeah, I'm not really sure what else to say. We're just really pleased to have him.
01:40He's doing a lot of things really well and settled back in really quickly.
01:44Just on the fact that he wasn't using that, was that a precaution after what he felt on the weekend?
01:49A little bit of that, yeah. A little bit of that in trying to share the load a little bit
01:55to a point as well.
01:57He's got good options, so there's a trying to keep everyone fresh,
02:00but it's fresh with a point where I let Ben to get good minutes tonight,
02:05to get him up to speed, so there's always a bit of a challenge in getting that right.
02:09But it was nice to keep what was fresh and ready for the weekend.
02:15Two for me, right? That's one of the freshness aspects.
02:18You obviously were able to rotate a bit in the second half, but how hard is it to say Bruno?
02:24He seems to play every minute every game, but there's going to have to be a point where you say,
02:27come on mate.
02:28We only had five subs, so we had to make certain decisions on what that looked like.
02:36But yeah, of course, he's like anybody else, he has played an awful lot,
02:40but I think we're developing the group and the squad to be able to accommodate that in different ways.
02:47Tonight was just one of those things, those decisions to be made and he ended up staying up.
02:51And in terms of tuning for Sunday, is there anyone returning? What's the situation?
02:58We'll have to see. We'll have to see if we just kind of looked after him a little bit going
03:04into tonight.
03:05He wasn't quite ready for it, 100%, so we didn't risk it.
03:08We'll see how he is in the next couple of days or so.
03:11Michael, you started by playing against Manchester City and at the time most people didn't have high expectations.
03:20I would imagine most Manchester United fans had a lot higher expectations, not always because Manchester City are kind of
03:26in a big change themselves.
03:28How do you approach this game and how different is it likely to be than the one that you played
03:34against in general?
03:35It'll definitely be different, just because no two games are ever the same, so it's definitely going to be different.
03:42I think there's no way we're assuming. We won last year, we'll do the same things and everything will be
03:48the same.
03:50I understand the expectation, it was quite fresh, everything was new, I didn't really know where it was going to
03:57go.
03:59Players, maybe myself, coaches, obviously you guys, you're all waiting to see how we're going and it was quite quick
04:05turnaround.
04:08I think the confidence that we've built over a period of time and I feel like we're getting better all
04:12the time, I think that helps us.
04:14We know it's a big game, we know it's an important game, there's a lot riding on it, it's pretty
04:20obvious to say, but we're looking forward to it.
04:24We've got a short space of time to recover and prepare for it, but we'll make the most of it.
04:30Michael, what are the challenges that Enzo Morescu's side poses and do you see notable differences in this City team
04:38now, albeit four or five games into the season?
04:43They're a very good team, obviously. They've had some really good results, they were really professional in the way they
04:52played against Porto the other night and efficient in what they needed to do.
04:57And obviously we've got players to choose from, to rotate and that's the position they're in.
05:04So yeah, they're a good team, little tweaks here and there that I don't need to talk about right here,
05:10but you try to take from the game.
05:13But yeah, we know we have to put in a really good performance and do a lot of good things
05:17to get the results we want.
05:30I'm definitely not using that phrase at all, no. I understand it and I think going into the Champions League
05:40game tonight, talking about the expectation there, I think it's a really good thing that it's shifted in a way.
05:48And all of a sudden there's different things asked of us now to maybe what was a few months ago
05:53and we're in the Champions League.
05:56That in itself shows the steps we've made and we need to be in the later stages of that and
06:01then the expectations around that.
06:03We know that and we're humble enough and realistic enough to know where we've come from in recent history and
06:08we need to be, we need to and we want to be better and we want to be challenging more.
06:16So that's where we're at. It doesn't mean that we can't and we won't. It means we still hope, we
06:21believe and we expect that we can be and we should be. But I understand the bigger picture.
06:27Hi Michael, can I just ask about you or Ian, is he the type of midfield technician that United have
06:33been missing perhaps since you left?
06:38I want to talk about me. I think as I said before about the former midfielders that played tonight, I
06:44think they're all technical and able to take the ball and play forward whether that's a pass or run or
06:53dribble and connect the game forward.
06:55I think it's nice to be able to draw upon that and have that in the team.
07:02Uri's settled in fantastic. Andre's settled in great. Mason's a little bit, we're asking him to do slightly different things
07:09than maybe what he's done in the past.
07:10But I think you've seen tonight and in pre-season how naturally it is for him to be able to
07:14do that.
07:15But yeah, going back to Uri, I think every game is getting better and you can see the connections and
07:21the understanding between each other is growing all the time.
07:24That's one for Robben.
07:26I imagine before that first City game was all a bit of a whirl in taking the job and trying
07:30to prepare the players.
07:31Did it ever cross your mind at nine months later that you would have done well enough to prepare the
07:35job full time and facing City again?
07:38Was it something that ever entered your mind at that point?
07:41Yeah, I think I said it pretty early on. I was always planning to be, all the decisions we were
07:46making was if we were going to be here for a period of time.
07:48I never knew how long that was going to be, I still don't. But it's, it's, you're always planning to
07:56what the future, what we wanted to look like and the direction we want to go.
07:59And that was from day one. Obviously it was quick and there was a turnaround and there was a bit,
08:04as I've just said, around that game where there was a bit of an unknown to be honest with you.
08:08So the performance the lads game was incredible with all that. But there was definitely always, always has been, always
08:15will be for me from the start was planning to try and get this club to where we want to
08:20get it in the long term.
08:22Thanks, thanks a lot.
08:23Thanks a lot.
Comments