Rio Ferdinand Meets Ruben Amorim- Man United's Struggles, Improving The Squad & Future Transfers.

So here we are at Carrington Manchester United training ground and today I'm meeting Ruben Amaroom, the Man United manager. This is the first time I'm getting a chance to speak to him. So I want to find out what's making him tick, what he's not enjoyed, what he's enjoying here at Manchester United. So let's go in. Really comfortable. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Let's get straight into it. What's it been like your first few months here at Manchester United? A big challenge. It's a hard job in every aspect, changing all the time, trying to find the solutions. And then you have to be here to explain every week, small interviews, press conference. Sometimes it's hard, you know, to be focused on the job. And then you know that you are in Manchester United, everything you say, everything you do, every result. It's something big. So I think it's a hard job, but I feel that it's becoming natural to me. The hardest part, by far, is to lose. Manchester United's inconsistencies continue, leaving those in red with plenty to ponder. Just to go back to when you first came and you talked about, I think it was very kind of sensible of you to mention it. There will be storms here. Has it been more storms than you actually anticipated? If you said to me in the beginning that you are going to win just four matches in 14, I don't believe you. I would say you're crazy, you know? And that, for me, it's the hardest part. You're used to winning as well. It's not just that. It's your pride as a coach. It doesn't matter the context. You are in Manchester United and you lose nine games in Premier League. As a player, you know that. I'm a former player. You know that when you get in this moment, sometimes it's really hard to turn things around. And we are in this moment. So I was expecting hard days, but not like this. I've been in Manchester City today, walking around, and probably 20 people come up to me and say, Ruben, are you United? And they speak maybe negatively about aspects of the club. But I have to say, every single one of the guys was saying, but I believe in Ruben, the manager. Do you feel that? I feel that. And at the same time, I'm embarrassed by that, because if you look at our performance and if you see our team sometimes on the pitch, it's really hard for me as a coach to take a lot of positives. And when you are really clear that you want one idea and then on the pitch, you don't see that. I see that in training, but sometimes in the game, we struggle with simple things that it's clear that is wrong. Why is that, do you think? Why? I don't know. I don't know. It's my fault. I think we are so nervous sometimes in the game, and you can feel it in the small things, in the way that we move sometimes, the understanding of the game, especially at Old Trafford. Even the environment, when I feel that sometimes the players are in the dressing room and we go to warm up and go inside to start the game, I feel that the air is heavy. And these kind of things, I think we show a lot in the games. The Man Utd fans, they are showing great patience with you. What could you say to give them that hope for the remainder of this season? It's really hard to say anything to them. I prefer to try everything to change the results and change the performance. I never saw anything like this. The way they behave with us, not just me, but even the players, the way they behave with us, away games, home games, they are unbelievable. I'm doing everything I know and we are still losing. And that is really hard to say that. So I just want to say that I'm giving everything. It took a lot of time to choose a club to leave Sporting, and I chose this club. And it's the right club. I know, but after all that work to fail and fail and fail is really hard. So I'm giving everything. I want to change things, but sometimes your best is not enough. Let's hope that we can change this in this game. How do you think you can change that? I know you're working hard behind the scenes. And one of the things that when people ask me about this, I always say it's more than football, because there's a lot of players here that have been a long time through different managers and there's deep scars from those times. And then it's obviously your job to kind of like put bandages on them, scars and build them back up. The only way I know that can help them is to give them the solutions to play on the on the pitch. But then they have to believe it. And to believe it is that when we are losing or in a difficult situation and you feel that you cannot even build up one play, they have to stick with that and to believe in that. And that is the hardest part, because when we suffer a goal or we have a bad moment and you feel it like the connection is not there, we lose ourselves and you feel it. We get lost a little bit. And that to the catalogue of errors from the goalkeeper. But like you said, I understand that sometimes it's really more than football. It's more than tactics. It's something that is in the player's mind. Just that we're here with a training ground and I'm really interested. And I think a lot of people were interested to know like how you get your ideas across to the team. Where's the best place for you? Is it on the training pitch? Is it in the classroom? Is it video? How are you implementing those ideas? Training. I think training is everything. I feel that I'm not like a typical manager that you have here. I'm a coach and I need to be on the pitch to be also happy, to transmit my positivity. I need to be on the pitch. If I'm not there, it's really hard to cope with that. Is there anything in particular about the English game in the Premier League? When you were at Sporting in Portugal and you were looking at the English game and going, I like this, I can see that. Is there anything that, while you've been here, that initially you've gone, wow, I didn't anticipate that. I didn't expect that. When you play against any team here in England, the physicality is there. Sometimes they don't need to build up a lot. Just a long ball, second ball, and they are there. So if you don't have physicality, you struggle a lot. And we talk about a lot of players that we have. Anthony is so much better now in Spain. It's a lot of factors, but I guarantee you, it's the physicality. And you can see some players of our team, if you catch a player that is so strong and so fast as you, it's really hard to take this guy. So I think that was the most important thing that I learned here. Set pieces also, the pace. The coaches are also really good, really smart, understanding the game. But the physicality of the players is really important. More than any other place here, it's really important when you build a squad to look at the physicality. How important is the transfer window for you and the recruitment? I think it's important for any coach that you have one idea to put in your team. But then you have to see if you have characteristics for that. I don't like to talk about that a lot, especially in press conference, because my players are listening. And I just want to be really focused on my players that we have. We can improve a lot, even with this context, with these players. We can play so much better. I believe that I see that in trainings. We need to take that to the game. But it's clear that when you have time to think of the characteristics, two, three players can change the way you play. Because sometimes you need pace. Sometimes you need a different guy in a specific position that can give you more control of the game. Sometimes you need a little bit more legs and strength in the midfield. These kind of things, it's clear for me. But like I said, I just want to focus on my players and help them to be better. What does Ruben do to relax? Nowadays, it's really hard to relax, but it's just family. And you go home, you find a nice place to live. I think living in Manchester, I really love it. My family adapts really well. Even the weather? Even the weather, they don't care. The results are the worst thing. But it's just enjoying with family. And when I get inside my home, I am not Ruben the coach. I am Ruben the father, and I have a job to do at home. They don't care about winning or losing. Sometimes they say that here you cannot win football matches. My oldest son says all the time. In Portugal, we win all the time. They joke with you like this, yeah? Yeah. And it's like enjoying with family and trying to live a different life. Ruben, good luck. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time, man. Good luck. I want to see you win, man.