so Ruben welcome to Manchester you enjoying the city yeah it's quite lovely uh Sunny for four days um it's really cold but without wind Without Rain you can work very well and um people are very nice very polite and that's different in some parts in Portugal uh but I'm enjoying a lot and what have you made of the club obviously you've been to the stadium you've been to the stadium before but you've been to the training ground now what what's your first impression the first impression is that is is so big uh with a lot
of departments it's uh I I came from from a small country of course a big love in the small country here is a different world uh you have a lot to do uh you are not just the coach you have to be something more um so it's it's a little bit different but I think I'm prepared for that um and this Manchester United uh it doesn't matter the last the last years you feel the the weight of the the history uh and you want to be part of that you know uh you feel that if
you win here it will be different than in every Club in England you you can feel that but um you also understand that the responsibility is big and is going to be tough uh we will have really hard moments but in the end I I I I truly believe that we are going to succeed does that confidence come from just your belief in how you've been successful sporting in the last few years not not just that because I I I I I follow the the the sport not just the games but what happened with the
other coaches so I know that you can win and and you have Eric Eric was amazing in NX um for me he buil the the best two teams outside the five strongest League uh leagues so it not just that but I have one idea so I know what to do when I know what to do um it could go wrong I know but I'm comfortable because I I know that step one step two step three and with that I have confidence that we are going to to to achieve something you've talked about that in your
interview you did when you first come last week this one idea what is this one idea one idea is like um to be practical uh because it's too uh abstract um one idea is that when when the ball is is one in one place and we are with the ball with or without with the ball every player has the the same idea imagine that one guy receives the ball between the lines and he turns every guy in the team knows what to do and everybody thinks the same so it's it's quite simple like that um
you can call it like um hard hard work uh um be professional all that stuff but in my mind one idea AA when identity is knows everybody knows everybody know have the same idea when the ball is here there or there so that's that's quite simple in this one idea is to understand the game in the same way see the game in the same way do the the things in in one way you said before about you'd look back at the managers that have been previously there've been some great managers here over the last five
years you just mentioned Eric tenh hard but they've really struggled to increase their win percentage above mid-50s what do you think you look at that's happened there and think I need to change that or what's gone wrong with the with sort of their sort of regimes when they've been at the club that is a hard question to to answer because if I know um everybody will know because they they have experience more than me uh what I can can can speak about is that the they contact me to be here because they saw something so
I will do my thing I will not try to find out the the the right thing to do or try to find out what is missing with Eric with Mourinho with vanal I will not try that because I think it's a waste of time they reach me because they saw something and I do something in a clear way uh when you watch a team from for example sporting you'll know what you will get so I will continue to do that uh and that is my main focus I I I I really don't know what what
they me is here but I think um I know I will do my thing my way and try to find out what is missing in my way of of of of seeing football how you obviously I think you'll know that coming in midseason is more challenging than coming in in preseason you've got a very distinct system how will you be able to implement that idea midseason when the games are coming thick and fast is that a biggest challenge for you at this moment of course you don't have time to train in is a new system
but but you you imagine that you have a line of five or line of four the principles are the same if you want to press you with one and and do a second line you can do a second line with four guys or three guys so I think is more more than a system is a principles that you have to teach and for that we need we need um also time when I think the problems that we'll have is more in the way you do things with the speed with the intensity than they to learn
how to play with five or four in the back they are professional players all the players are international so I think it's more for me I I'm more stressful uh about the the way you do things uh than the the way they they have to do with four or five Defenders so that is quite simple for me I think this team over the last five or six years have played mainly quite deep and on the Counterattack how do you change that so that you get the defense up the pitch another 20 M 15 MERS and
you get the pressing a lot higher that that is a good question the first thing I think we have to be better athletes that's that is something that you can acknowledge when we are here uh and we see the data you mean fit you mean fitter than they currently are yeah when I say fitter is not thinner or nothing about that is the data you have to understand that the data to press High uh what is the the average uh meters that you have to run with that speed run the the the Sprint you have
all this data and you have to cope with that so you already know your goal is to reach that of course you you play with the ball if you you can run a lot but if you don't understand the game it doesn't matter but in the first point to press High you have to be very fit and you have to cope with the demands of pressing pressing high and I think uh one of the problems that that we have and I don't want to I I don't like to speak like that because I'm saying that
I I know the right way and the other way is the wrong way no I'm just telling my way of of seeing things is that uh the problem is with the ball uh I think we lose the ball too fast we win the ball we lose the ball and you cannot press high all the time so you have to keep the ball and understand that you have to be in the position to start one play this is something that with the ball we can press better so the focus this week also was was in that
part to don't Lo if you don't lose the ball you can push higher if you have higher you can press better so it's it's it's like a a snowball everything is connected but if if I know um how to do it I will do it in the in the snap of the fingers so we need a lot of time but during this time we have to win games and we have to manage so important for me is that they have to understand the game if you have to to defend in inside the goal of Onana
we'll defend inside the goal of Nana if you have to Presser uh in the in the opposite side we will we will do it but we have to understand the game yeah what are your non-negotiables you can it's easy to see it's uh you can say the the pretty things like hard work um be professional you should be this is Manchester United in every Club but here of course this is you you cannot run from that um then is is to think first in the team so I know that some guys will we will sometimes
we will play in the different position but they have to understand the position and they have to fight for the team this is something that I can as a formal player I know every trick I can understand the players I can understand what they are doing why they are doing if they are doing for the team I will defend them uh Until the End uh I can lose my job before I put put one player um in front of the bus as you can say like that but if if he doesn't put the team in
first place I will be the the first one to to talk with the player you mentioned uh a professionalism I I I have to ask you this because I've made a comment this week about casemiro and Marcus rashford traveling to America in their few days off um and it was just me thinking as a Manchester United player when I played here that you've got a few days off the club are 13th in the league the manager has just been sacked it's a challenging part of the Season that the new manager is about to come in
and that focus and preparation and not every single little detail is really important and I said I don't think I would have chosen that trip to go to America with the time difference I did get it wrong I think I think they went to New York rather than Portland so I apologize for that but there's still a five six hour time difference they're on planes casemiro's 30 years of age are you comfortable with that um the first thing it was 5 days off the second thing and they received the information of five days off and
they are big boys they have they have kids so they decide what to do I think the the the main question here is has as a as a club have to set the standards and have to to manage that is my decision if if they can have five days as a coach um or three days or is three days to rest you cannot fly this is something that I has as a club has to decide so you think you would have set a different structure maybe for that period for me yes for sure but we
cannot put this on the players they told them they have five days off so they can fly anywhere because nobody in the club says you cannot fly so they have to to live their lives because they are grown mens and they have to decide this things but us as a as a club has to change in these standards you you said that you as a player think talk in the different way I wouldn't have made that choice I I would have taken the five days off yeah but I would have probably done something different with
that five days than getting on a plane to the and you seem to be saying something for me the for me the big difference is your time you had a great leadership at the time very very strong and the culture was already here when you start yeah so it's a long time with the same identity the same same way of seeing things and you feel that I'm just imagine but even your teammates if you do that they will talk to you so now is a different point and you have to acknowledge that so this must
be start in the club with us me as as a uh responsible in in that area so we we cannot in this time put that on rash or Kaza they receive the information 5 days off do what you like so um we have to as a club set a better uh standards and we will'll try to do that is your problem with the is your problem with the actual five days off actually you think it's too long uh it depends is very individual and you have to to see how many players stay all of the
St these players are playing or not they they are they they were injury or not I think 5 days for me it's too much because after 3 days you lose something so you have to see that but sometimes you feel that it's better he loses something physically but wins something mentally so it's something individual um but I I I I want to say it again it's it should not be the players decision it should be our decision as a club and we are responsible to set that that that examples and standards uh whatever you you
want to call it take me back to the very first time you heard from someone at Manchester United and they said we'd like to speak to you about being the manager who was that and when you know how did you feel when that happened I really had conversation with clubs um uh so was quite normal but what I felt in the at the time I felt that this is my place because of all of the things that you said about the the moment of this club I think it's perfect for me I think you I
can I can feel it if everything is going right here and we are winning maybe it it was not for me I don't know how to explain it better but I think it was the right Club in the right moment for me was very tough to leave sporting because in the middle of the Season you can say everything is Manchester United it's everything is the moment is the club that I want but you are leaving your guys in the middle of the season so it's it's it was really hard but I I had to do
it and I was like so happy uh of course uh you you can see it in every intervention that that I have but I but I also uh felt that is in the first moment a little bit overwhelming but after 5 minutes you start thinking about the club the the team the players how to play so it was quite fun but it's true that I mean I'm I'm talking now as a United fan not someone who's interviewing you for sky but you know you look like you're beaming and you're sort of so happy to be
here it's a important thing that just to sort of the message to the fans the body language you know it's important of course uh and I know that this this in this moment our fans are with the mixed feelings like I want to be excited but I I have been here so I I have to be uh I'm a little bit afraid it's the same story all the time I can be disappointed um so what can I say is that I'm really excited I I'm not afraid to show it uh but I'm a clear idea
that this will take time don't don't confuse my my my my happiness with naive naivity say naivity it's not the same thing I'm really happy I know what to do but I I I have idea that we are going to suffer a little bit um before improving in a way that you should improve you've you've given us a little bit of a lot of insight into how you're going to manage the players in terms of obviously sporting you with you goana you had a great relationship how is what do you expect from the people above
you uh uh we can talk about um for example Dave Dave is known to to to create cultures uh of course it's different sports but he can prove that he can create cultures that win and strong cultures and um we need that in the club I think everybody we don't need to hide that we need to build that uh before to build something else we need to build that in our stuff in our way to see things then you have Dan Dan is well known in here in England um he has the same position of
fug Vienna one of the things to be practical uh in that to to to explain um is that it's important when when a coach or or a manager more a coach says something you have some someone like Dan that say says the same thing to the players this connection is so important in the club and then the player is going to play to to talk with the agent and the agent will talk with then and he he will hear the same thing this is so important because the players will feel that there is no place
to run or there is no place to hide so we have to be on the same page then you have Jason is the technical director it's so important because for me we need to improve Carrington with the youth teams so we need to create a profile for uh the type of players that you want in the first team and we have to improve Pro uh we have good players but we should be better for what what I I saw you mentioned game model in your interview today that you're going to introduce a game model do
does that mean I me explain it to me but also to everybody at the does that mean that what you implement in the first team now will change throughout the actual Academy and the youth teams and other sort of parts of the club obviously the last few years they've been working a different way does that mean it changes now that you come in you're looking for a direction to change through the whole club no for me there's nothing to do with that you have to to have the same principles and you have to understand the
profile of the players if I need the number six when you go up in the scale of of Youth themes you have to to work a little bit more specifically the type of six that that we use but here down when they are growing they can play in different system I think it helped they have to understand the game is not is not understanding a system they they don't have to grow up playing in 343 they have to understand the game you can play 433 uh because we will change the the players if you play
with Dalo in one side but or you play with Dio in the same position is the same position different guy different structor I'm interested in that will you play defensive fullbacks in Wing back positions or will you play attacking Wingers or will you move between the two yeah I don't I don't want to say too too much but you have to use both yeah because you you have different games uh we should start with fullbacks because the structor has to because to teach a Winger how to defend is is harder impossible yeah yeah but but
uh but you don't have too much no so if you are putting Dalo all the time mawi all the time malasi is returning sha he cannot do it at the moment so you have to adapt some players and this is also the hard part to to start in the in the middle of the season is it a I mean I I think the club will probably say that there the limit with ffp this the financial sustainability so it's unlikely that there's going to be a lot of changes in January is that strength that actually for
eight months you're likely to be working with the same group of players and actually you've not got a big transfer window in the summer you know that's the positive I suppose is it for you to be able to work with them the first thing I'm not thinking about that I'm really not think about that I I need to know the players yeah then we we are addressing that with and we then we have to improve recruitment but improve recruitment is the process so you you have to have the data we have to to to put
the the profiles uh uh on point so they have they have to understand how I want to play and what I need for each position so this is very clear and we are trying to do that very very fast but this is the the first moment is if we start without everything the the data physical data that every position demands uh the character of the player if we don't have a a clear process we cannot start buying players so our focus is to to build that and then when the windows open we will see uh
but I'm not thinking about that in the moment you're currently in 13th position but actually only four points off top four is that still the aim this season for you to take the club into the champions league is that what you're looking at the first thing I'm not thinking anything else do than winning the next game um and people will say that I'm hiding the responsibility you and the other guys will judge me for the position I really don't care uh I know that that's why we are Manchester United and people expect to be on
top four that I know is not I I don't have any goal uh in the end of the season I have one goal for this game and then to the other game so I have so much to do I will focus on every game what can I say is that we have the responsibility not just to fight for every game but to win every game it's going to be hard that is the goal but I will not tell you that we have to to be here in the end or there on top four or top
six I will be judged for that but this is not my goal at the moment I think you said the other day that you wanted to meet with s Alex Ferguson and maybe I think you mentioned Roy Keane as well to have a dinner or with players that play for the club he's actually on the television doing the game switch do you want me to pass on the invitation for to ro for dinner with him no it was a player that I really liked um I know he's a little bit crazy you know know he's
a lot crazy and but he was a massive player and I like players with character I think they they can can improve not just what royin did on the pitch the way he influenced the others I think that is very important important um in one player you must have this kind of player in the big clubs and I hope we'll have in the future players like like royin Sir Alex Ferguson you want to ask so many things I think he will talk about horses he told me that I don't understand nothing about horses uh but
it will be amazing to meet that that kind of character Reuben it's been brilliant speaking to you and uh Manchester United fans absolutely love the managers they always support them and uh all the very best to you you do a great job thank you very much thank you
