Ruben Amorim Addresses Injuries, Team Development, and Player Availability

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim addressed the media ahead of the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, scheduled for a 17:30 GMT kick-off. The following are the main points from his press conference: Amorim offered condolences for Kath Phipps, who died this week after more than 50 years of service to the club, stating: “You can feel that today is a sad day, everybody talks about Lady Kathy. I met her seven years during the internship [with Jose Mourinho]. She was the lady behind the reception. You feel the love, [especially] the way Darren Fletcher speaks about her. She was an important person here who represents everything this club is. It’s a sad day for us.” He confirmed the unavailability of centre backs Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof for Saturday’s fixture, explaining: “Jonny is still is not training. Victor has returned to training but is not available for tomorrow. Maybe in the next game he will be available.” When questioned about nearing a definitive best starting line-up, he responded: “More or less. You have an idea, but we have the problem of players returning without training, then we need to manage the load.” He further elaborated: “You have to understand what kind of players you have. For example Bruno Fernandes, he was a little bit tired in the end against Arsenal but you know that he is going to recover very well. If you think about Manuel Ugarte, I’ve known him for so long and I know he needs a little bit more time. We are in that process of knowing the players and we are managing that.” He discussed his priorities during the initial period, stating: “In just two weeks and four matches, they [the fans] just want to see effort. Then they want to see us win games. After a while with effort and winning games, they will want to see a dominant team. These are the phases that we have to follow. This one is the easy one, effort. Full sprint back, full sprint forward. Our focus is a lot on that.” Regarding the significance of learning during matchdays, he commented: “What kind of situations are better for one guy, or for another? These kind of things, I need to be close to them, I need to see the games in the dugout, not on TV. We as staff are learning really fast what they are able or not able to do. We are trying to learn everything at a fast pace.”