'Leader' Harry Maguire and Amorim calls himself worst Utd coach ahead of Rangers UEL game
22/01/2025
Carrington Training Centre, Manchester, UK
22/01/2025
Carrington Training Centre, Manchester, UK
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00:00Welcome, everybody, to our press conference for our UEFA Europa League game against Rangers tomorrow,
00:10with Ruben Amarin and Harry Maguire. Please indicate who your question is for. Let's get going with Scott.
00:18Ruben, if I could start with you. Obviously, you had some strong words after the Brighton game,
00:26I know that. What response have you seen from your players after what you said?
00:32First of all, I want to talk about that. I was talking more for myself than from my players,
00:41because I was talking that, and you have to find out, a coach that starts a job and loses eight games,
00:48I think, seven games in the first ten. So it's more for me. I was talking more about me than the players.
00:56I also talked in the same response about I was not helping my players. And if you look around,
01:05every time I speak, and I speak a lot, every time you push about the players are not good enough,
01:11I never put the spot on my players. So I understand. I gave you that headline.
01:19And I'm frustrated sometimes. And sometimes I should not say that in that terms, but it is what it is.
01:28And that's it. Sometimes it's really hard to hide the frustration in some moments.
01:35But the good thing is that I said the same things in a different way in the dressing room five minutes before.
01:42So the response was quite normal, because I'm really blunt with my players.
01:47And they turned well, they are ready for this game, and let's see tomorrow.
01:52How does that land in the dressing room when you hear your manager describe the team as possibly the worst in the club's history?
02:00No, I think as players, obviously, after the game, we were really frustrated, disappointed,
02:05coming off the back of a good away performance and then beating Southampton.
02:09Going into the game, we were confident and we felt like we had the belief that we can go and beat Brighton.
02:14And ultimately, we didn't perform well enough on the day. So we've got to look at ourselves.
02:19We've got to take responsibility on ourselves. And as an individual, that's what I do.
02:24I go home and think about how I can help this team improve and get back to where we want to get back to.
02:29And that's challenging a lot higher than we are in the league.
02:31So for me, it's about us players just taking responsibility on ourselves and improving individually, which will help the team improve.
02:40Harry, you've played quite well recently. I know things haven't been going so well for the team.
02:45But the manager said last week you're a leader again.
02:49Do you feel as though it has benefited you not being the captain of the club?
02:53Because as you said recently, your form over the past 18 months has been quite consistent.
02:59No, I wouldn't put it down to that, to be honest. Whether I'm captain or not, I do see myself as a leader in this group of players.
03:08I'm experienced now. I've been at the club over five years.
03:12I know that in times when you play for this club, there's so many ups and downs in every game that you lose.
03:20There's a lot of scrutiny on the players and players get targeted.
03:26I think that's part and parcel of playing for this club. You've got to accept and take the responsibility on.
03:32I look at previous players and I've spoken about this before, the likes of players like Wayne Rooney and David Beckham.
03:40They had a large amount of scrutiny on them and they were world-class players.
03:44If it can happen to them, it can happen to anybody.
03:47It's part and parcel of playing for this club. Playing for this club is a huge privilege and a huge honour.
03:52I wouldn't change it for anything.
03:55Just regarding that scrutiny, Joshua Zirkzai had some dreadful stick a few weeks ago and he's played well since.
04:00Did you ever speak to him because you've been through similar experiences at times?
04:05No, I sent him a message privately after the game.
04:10Listen, Joshua is a good player. You don't play for this club if you're not a good player.
04:15He's got to bring that belief out and that confidence out in himself.
04:19I always say in football, there's always another game and there's always a next opportunity.
04:23With Joshua coming on against Arsenal, he really changed the game for us.
04:27To score that winning penalty probably gave him a lot of confidence and belief that he belongs at this club.
04:32The fans have been brilliant with him. We have amazing fans and they stick with us through thick and thin.
04:39When times are tough, they really get behind you and support you.
04:42I felt that and Joshua, I'm sure, will have been feeling that over the recent weeks.
04:46It's not really about individuals, it's more about as a team. We're disappointed as a team.
04:50We want to get higher in the Premier League and start challenging at the top end of it.
04:56This season, ultimately, we haven't been good enough.
05:01You say all the players are good players and clearly they are, the top end Premier League players in theory.
05:09But you're not, as a team at the moment, a top end Premier League team or playing anything like it.
05:16Can you explain why that happened?
05:21If I could explain it, I think we'd change it straight away.
05:25Like you said, we've got players who've played numerous games internationally, won lots of trophies in club football.
05:32But at the moment, we're not playing well enough as a team and the league table shows that.
05:38I can only keep going on about it. We've got to take responsibility as players.
05:42We've got to stop looking for excuses and blaming things.
05:46It's really important that, as an individual, you improve yourself.
05:52You come into training, you give absolute everything and that's all we can do.
05:58I take on board what you said right at the start.
06:01But if you're taking responsibility away from the players, then you put it on you.
06:07Someone has to take responsibility for the fact that Manchester United are 14th in the Premier League.
06:14I'm not taking responsibility from the players.
06:16What I'm saying is that the message that you guys showed was that I was putting it on the players.
06:24What I was saying is that you have to look really hard to find a team like Manchester United in 10 games that lose 7 games.
06:32And that is on me because it's the same players doing worse with a new coach.
06:37That's my only concern at the moment.
06:41But I'm not taking anything from the players.
06:44What I'm saying is that we have to improve in the details and I explained that.
06:48The way we play, we are too nervous with the ball, too nervous, really anxious.
06:53And then if you have a little bit of experience in this game, when you fall in this type of context, it's really hard to go up.
07:02Especially when you are a massive club.
07:05So that was my only point.
07:09It was the best point to do it after that loss in the way I do it.
07:13Maybe not, but it is what it is.
07:16And I'm like that all the time.
07:19So I'm not taking responsibility from the players.
07:22I'm saying, I'm really, really directing in things.
07:26I'm saying in this moment, we are performing really bad and our results are really bad in the moment.
07:33So it's everything together, the players, the staff, the technical staff.
07:38So I'm not taking responsibility.
07:40I'm just pointing that I'm the biggest responsible of the performance and the results because I'm the coach and I have that responsibility.
07:52You've spoken a couple of times about the anxiety that you feel sometimes at Old Trafford.
07:57Is it becoming harder to play there at the moment as opposed to being away?
08:01And is there anything you can do to combat that feeling of nervousness, anxiety when you play home games?
08:06I think that is clear.
08:08I could say different things and say, no, no, it's the same thing.
08:12We have the support of the fans.
08:14No, we are more nervous playing at home than away because we lost a lot of games, like four games in five.
08:23So it's getting harder.
08:24What we can improve, I think if we don't suffer the first goal, like in the fourth minute.
08:29And I remember like it's fourth minute, 10 minutes, 15 minutes.
08:34And then it's really hard to calm down the team.
08:37So we need the first thing in my mind is they cannot score.
08:41We need to score the first one.
08:43If we score the first one, I think that will change and we'll play better at home in the beginning.
08:51So that's it.
08:53I think it's really clear.
08:54We are really anxious playing, especially at home.
08:57And we are suffering goals.
08:58And then it's really hard.
08:59So I think it's clear for everybody that it's getting harder to play at Old Trafford.
09:07I think you said previously, a couple of weeks back, there's a storm coming.
09:10Yes.
09:11So it's fair to say you're in the storm.
09:13Can it get any worse for you?
09:15You know, for this team, in terms of your position, your performances, the results.
09:19Can there be thunder and lightning in the storm?
09:22I think the most important thing is to think that we can improve right away in the next match.
09:29And then it's like that.
09:30The football can change like that.
09:32We can have a lot of ideas and thinking that it's getting worse for that reason or the other reason.
09:38Imagine that tomorrow we don't suffer a goal in the beginning.
09:40And we score.
09:41And we play well.
09:42And then you go to Fulham and you can win it.
09:44That will change.
09:45Even the environment here and everything.
09:49So I don't know.
09:50What I knew since the first day is that when I arrived and I see it, I understood that changing things, we are going to suffer.
09:59For me, it was really clear.
10:01But in this moment, I don't want to say that it's going to take a lot of time.
10:05It's getting really hard.
10:07And you know, you guys are here for a long time.
10:10And you get lost after lost.
10:13It's really hard for everybody.
10:15And I know that.
10:16I show that frustration.
10:17But I don't know.
10:18We can change that tomorrow.
10:22You just mentioned it again then that you're really nervous.
10:25As a player, does that help you to hear your head coach say you and other players are nervous?
10:31No, I think we spoke about the first goal at Old Trafford.
10:36And it's not teams that come into Old Trafford and opening us up and tactically breaking us down.
10:43I think anybody who was at the game against Brighton, it was a 50-50 game.
10:47It could have gone either way.
10:49And we gave them a goal early on, which we knew we had to stop.
10:54We spoke about it in the pre-match.
10:56So we've got to stop giving away that first goal.
10:59That's the first and foremost thing.
11:01I think the first goal against Nottingham Forest, against Bournemouth, was a set play.
11:06The first goal against Southampton was a set play.
11:08So these aren't things that are tactically a problem.
11:13These are things where you've got to go into the game and be focused and mentally ready to go and win football matches.
11:18Football matches are sometimes defined on small margins.
11:24At the moment, we're not getting them small margins because we're not mentally focused enough to make sure that they go our way.
11:31We know things can turn.
11:34Like the boss has said, tomorrow is an opportunity for our players to go out there, put on a performance and get the win.
11:40And then go into Sunday.
11:42Of course, we take each game as it comes, starting with tomorrow.
11:45Tomorrow is another opportunity for us to make sure that we move on from Brighton and put things right.
11:51Sorry, I didn't say I was nervous.
11:54I said the team was nervous.
11:55I was frustrated.
11:56Frustrated is different from nervous.
11:58If you say it's good for the players to see the coach frustrated, maybe not.
12:04But I didn't say I was nervous.
12:06You're saying your players are nervous.
12:07We are nervous.
12:08As a team, because it's always us.
12:10Does that help the team to put that thought into their head?
12:13No, no, no.
12:14I'm saying obviously.
12:16If you want, I can be delusional and say different things.
12:20I said it as I saw it.
12:22And I said to the players.
12:23And I said to you.
12:24I think it's a good thing to be really honest with you.
12:26If you want me to say different things.
12:28You saw one thing.
12:29I saw one thing.
12:30And I tell you a different thing.
12:32I can start to do it.
12:33It's easier for me.
12:34But what I'm saying is that.
12:36And they know.
12:37And you can understand the game.
12:39If you are in the stadium, you can understand.
12:41So let's face it and work on it.
12:43But I'm not nervous.
12:44I'm frustrated.
12:47You mentioned in the dressing room after the Brighton game, saying these kind of things to the players directly.
12:52Usually you don't say anything.
12:53You wait until the next morning.
12:55Why did you change your methods for that game?
12:57And do you sometimes feel that you need to.
12:59I don't know.
13:00You said you want to shock the club, shock the players.
13:02Was that a moment when you were doing that?
13:04No, it was not.
13:05I didn't think.
13:06That's why I'm a young guy.
13:08And sometimes I make a mistake.
13:09And that's why I don't talk about after the game.
13:12This game, I needed to talk.
13:15And maybe it was a mistake.
13:17And then I get more nervous and go to the conference really nervous.
13:22And then you say things that you shouldn't say.
13:25And that's it.
13:26Sometimes you are a young guy and do mistakes.
13:28And you improve.
13:29I don't promise you that I will not do it again.
13:33I don't know.
13:34So I will try to improve.
13:38Ruben, you've been honest, as always, about the financial realities that the club are going to face this year.
13:45There's a lot of talk of Napoli and Chelsea interest in Garnaccio.
13:51If the club was to get to a point where it gets an offer that deems acceptable for a player like that,
13:57how important is it for you that you are then able to reinvest and use that money?
14:03Guys, I understand the question.
14:05Let's focus on the game.
14:06I don't want to talk about that, especially before a game.
14:09Our focus is that our players are here to play.
14:12We need to improve.
14:13We need to win games to have that feeling of winning.
14:16It's really important for us.
14:17So let's focus on that today.
14:19Let's take a last question from the Scottish press.
14:21Just a question for both gentlemen, please.
14:24What do you expect from Rangers tomorrow night?
14:27I think we expect a tough game.
14:30We know they're going to come here and give everything.
14:33They're going to be followed with great support.
14:35And I think they've done extremely well in the competition.
14:39So, no, we expect a tough game.
14:41But I think our focus is on ourselves, making sure that we perform on the back of a bad defeat at the weekend.
14:48We'll go there with confidence that we can perform and get the three points.
14:53We expect, like Harry said, a tough match.
14:57A lot of physicality during the game.
15:00I know that some important players from Rangers don't play.
15:04And we have to know the new players to understand the way they play.
15:08The full-backs are really high on the pitch.
15:12They have talent to score in the final third.
15:18So it's one more difficult game.
15:20It's really important for us because we want to skip the play-off.
15:24It's really important to have time to train.
15:26So I expect the same thing that we faced in the last game.
15:31It's a really tough match.
15:32A lot of physicality.
15:33Also, the fans from Rangers are making some noise.
15:36So we are prepared.
15:37Our fans are prepared.
15:38We want to win.
15:40One last one from Scotland.
15:42In many ways, the situation at Rangers just now mirrors the situation at Manchester United.
15:46A lot of turmoil on and off the park.
15:48Are you aware of what's been going on?
15:51Rangers' same idea of the fans being upset at a lack of success?
15:55And do you feel for their coach, Philippe Clement?
15:59It's really hard.
16:01These massive clubs.
16:02And Rangers won a lot.
16:03I think it's the club with more titles in Europe.
16:08So it's really hard in these moments for any coach in any club.
16:12But I hope to improve my team before.
16:16Especially tomorrow.
16:17So I feel the pain of the Rangers' coach.