Ruben, quite a few players in the past few days have had their say about Kobbie Mainoo. Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Rio Ferdinand, I don’t want to get you on Kobbie again, and I know you have talked about that, but as a manager, as the head coach here, how frustrating is it for you to have ex-players and pundits having their say like this?
“I think again it is normal. I think it’s a fact that, me as a manager of Manchester United, I think we are under-achieving. We should have more points, especially this season. So, I take it that naturally. Sometimes they don’t have all the information and they balance and see Manchester United with the standards that they lived here, always winning, so it’s hard for them to see their club in this situation. About Kobbie [Mainoo], I can speak about Kobbie every press conference, sometimes it’s harder for me to speak after the game. So it’s always the same situation for me. All of them are the same. I know that for you guys, there are some players that you believe [in] a lot and I believe [in] a lot, but sometimes I have to make a choices. We play with two midfielders in these games. We could change in the future, but to Kobbie Mainoo, he is playing in the same position as Bruno Fernandes. Sometimes it’s really hard to take Bruno Fernandes out of the team and that is the only reason.”
But when they speak, is it not making your job harder?
“No, it’s not winning. I think not winning is the issue. Of course, you can point a lot of things and they point [at] a lot of things that we need to improve, but the big issue is not winning. If I’m winning, I can go to the games in the horse. Arrive there, playing with just two defenders and everything will be fine. The problem is that me, as a manager, I am not doing good enough and that is a fact also and I can accept that. So that is the only problem for them. It is that Manchester United is not winning and it is not in the position that it’s supposed to be.”
Just on the ex-players, is that something that happens or happened when you were in Lisbon as well or have you found it to be different here, the way that the ex-players speak in the media?
“No, here is completely different. We have the best league in the world and there’s a lot of things around the game. In every press conference, I live here and I’m going to give an interview. So it’s a completely different world. In Sporting there is no issue because we were winning all the time. So if you are winning there is no issue. So [it is] accolades, so I understand that and that’s okay.”
