Every word of Ruben Amorim’s Newcastle United pre-match press conference | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim says Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes will return to action soon.

The Manchester United head coach was speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of Friday’s Premier League clash with Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

The injury crisis

Asked first whether Kobbie Mainoo or Bruno Fernandes would return for the game, the boss replied:

“No, not for this game, they are recovering. I don’t think it will take a lot of time, I think Kobbie will return faster than Bruno.”

The reporter asked “Can you say how long will Bruno be out for?”

“No, I don’t want to say,” he replied. “I have an idea, of course, but let’s see.”

On Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt, he said “We are still working with them. They are not available for this one, but let’s see for the next one.”

The next question was “You ended up on Sunday playing Lisandro Martínez as a midfield player. You previously said that would only happen in an emergency, which it presumably was. What will you do for these block of games then if Bruno is not going to be available for a little while?”

“We have other players,” he answered. “We need to maybe try to see different ways of playing. I think Jack Fletcher did a very good job, and that’s why when we have this opportunity, we need to give space to them, to guys like Jack and the other ones. So we’ll find solutions to play.”

Friday’s game against Newcastle

The BBC’s Simon Stone then asked how confident Amorim is going into Friday’s game, noting that we are embarking on “a block of fixtures where a lot of people looked at your team and said, Manchester United can really kick on. It’s not been like that. You played well at Villa but didn’t win. Then there was the Everton, West Ham games. You’ve got another block of games now where people would have expected you to do well, but now you’ve lost key players.”

“I’m confident that we can win any game,” Amorim insisted. “Of course, we have some problems, but I believe in the team. Even without many players in this moment, I believe in the team, and I believe we can win any game. Of course, it’s more difficult, but again, I trust in my players. If we are really focused in the game, we can win.”

The next question was “just in terms of the young players, if I may, in terms of Jack [Fletcher] and Shea [Lacey], they obviously had a few days now for their debuts, both to sink in. How have they been for the last few days, and how do they sit now in your thinking going forward?”

Amorim replied: “Normal, they are normal. They are good kids. The behaviour that they have shown during these weeks are really good. But I don’t have that feeling that they were a little bit different ‘because I play for Manchester United’. No, they are really focused and they are preparing the game and they believe that they can play. That is a good feeling. So nothing different that I saw in the last few weeks.”

How will Amorim replace Fernandes?

The next reporter asked “just as far as Bruno is concerned, given the amount of creativity that he brings this team and the Premier League, he’s created more chances than any other player in the Premier League so far this season as well. How do you replace that? How do you copy that? How do you or can you?”

“I think it’s impossible to replace Bruno, but I said that in this morning to the team,” he admitted. “I think we need to take the good thing. If there is a good thing on that, that a lot of people will need to step up. If you see that it’s not just the creation, but every set piece he is the guy that is organising sometimes the team. That is a good opportunity for everyone to step up and to understand that we cannot rely on one player for everything.”

“Sometimes we rely on Bruno in the organisation, in the creation. We lost Bruno in set pieces. We lost Bryan and Amad in set pieces. This is massive for the team, but it’s an opportunity for other players to step up and to show the leadership that we need in the team.”

“What about the leadership?” another reporter asked. “Bruno has been so crucial to all of that on the pitch. What would you lose from him? Because you spoke about what you’ll lose ability-wise. What would you lose on the pitch?”

“Everything,” Amorim lamented. “Because, again, he understands every position on the field. He pays attention to every detail, every set piece. When you have a substitution, he’s always the guy that is telling the other guys where they should be. But that is a very good opportunity for guys like Licha, Luke Shaw, all these guys. We need to step up to have more leaders in the group because this can happen to Bruno. It’s not usual, but this can happen. It’s a big opportunity for the other guys.”

The embargoed section of the presser will be released tomorrow at 10.30pm. Bookmark The Peoples Person and return here then to read every word of that section.

Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images

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