EXCLUSIVE | Mikaël Silvestre: ‘We shouldn’t be questioning Ruben Amorim’s position.’ | OneFootball

Retired France international Mikaël Silvestre sat down with Get French Football News to talk about two of his former clubs, Manchester United and Internazionale.

Looking back on the season Manchester United have had (15th in the league), what are the signs of hope for the future?

The positives are that the players who have the potential to develop and help the team grow next season. So, you look at individual performances, starting from the back, you have Yoro, Martínez, De Ligt, Mazraoui, and Dalot. And in midfield, Mainoo, Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Zirkzee, and Casemiro. So you can count on a good group of players to be playing and helping the team, but you need reinforcements for sure. So the hope is very slim [laughs], but you know, you would think after such a bad campaign in the league that the team would get better next season and react and bounce back. They’ve got to bounce back because if they don’t, then they’ve got nothing to do at Manchester United.

What do United need to change or focus on to improve for next season?

They need to be more difficult to play against. They’ve been leaking goals, especially at home at Old Trafford. [They need to] be solid, I’m not just talking about the back five, it needs to be the whole team that needs to be more difficult to play against. They’ve had some performances, especially in the big games, playing against Liverpool, Arsenal. Even in the away game against Chelsea, they looked solid. It needs to be consistent, the same for the way they attack. They need to be more consistent. They have too many drops in performance in the course of the 90 minutes and the course of the season.

Is Ruben Amorim the right coach to lead this project? Or are the issues bigger than the head coach?

We shouldn’t be questioning his position. First of all, he took the job in October, so we need to give him time. We can’t judge after a few months. And his only signing was Patrick Dorgu. So we need to give him time to build the team– to rebuild the team the way he wants it, and with the players he wants. So we can see the true potential of the team. I think it needs support from the club to financially be able to sign the players that would improve the squad.

How do you think Leny Yoro has settled into the team during his first season?

Quite well, considering he had an early injury during preseason. It’s hard when you join a club, you want to be playing straight away and settle. New country, new language, new club, new culture. So it’s difficult, and [the injury] was a big setback, but after that, he recovered well enough to play many minutes, and he did well. He’s young, his potential has been seen this season, and hopefully, he will become even stronger next season.

How has Luis Enrique changed people’s perception of PSG across Europe after winning the Champions League?

The culture of the players. He’s put the club first and the players second. That was needed because they got the result in the end. In his second season, he managed to do the treble. A lot of hard work behind the scenes from him personally and the team. Now people have even more respect for PSG and Ligue 1 in general.

Inter have reached two Champions League finals in the last three seasons. Does the way Inter lost the final detract at all from the way Simone Inzaghi has exceeded expectations?

Yeah, it’s painful. Against Manchester City, it was very narrow, extremely narrow (1-0). They played well. Against PSG, we didn’t recognise the team at all (5-0). I had a feeling that perhaps Inter were running out of steam by the end of the campaign, whether it was in Serie A or in the Champions League. They had to dig deep to beat Barcelona, but it was like a no-show during the final. It doesn’t reflect at all what he was doing. That was extra frustrating for him to see all this hard work vanish in 90 minutes on the biggest stage. I feel for him and the players as well.

Mikaël Silvestre was speaking to Get French Football News exclusively on behalf of Esports Insider.

GFFN | Nick Hartland