You weren’t a bad striker yourself, what do you think about Joshua Zirkzee at the moment? What do you think his strengths are and what do you think are the areas he needs to improve in?
“Josh is similar to Manuel Ugarte’s situation. Josh came in, he’s a young player with a lot of potential. He’s a typical number nine in the sense of his hold-up play is very good, he’s very strong in the combination play, he’s a different type than Rasmus. Rasmus is more of a nine that plays higher up on the pitch, getting in the back of defenders and Josh is more the one coming to the ball and getting the team playing. The Crystal Palace game, he was excellent, it was one of his best performances and showed his potential. Another one with a lot of talent. A good age, a lot of potential to develop, look after, give him time, he will get better and better and better, and I think also will be a very good player for this club.”
You probably know better than anyone else in this room from your time here that the noise around United is deafening at the best of times, let alone when they’re changing managers et cetera. Also, you have the issue that in the media, you have many high-profile players that you’ve played with: Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves. All these guys have an opinion on the club and sometimes that’s a painful opinion. As a manager coming into this club, do you think that’s fair they should be under that scrutiny from ex-players that have been successful? Secondly, are you prepared for those guys that you played with to give you a kicking on Sunday if you lose to Chelsea?
“We all do our jobs, don’t we? I think, basically, they care for the club and want the club to do well and they’re disappointed as well that it doesn’t go well with the club. I think it’s absolutely fine and I don’t take it personal. When I see them, I have a cup of coffee with them and I don’t have any problems with that. I appreciate them as former colleagues, some of them I’m still in touch with and that’s the path they choose. Others stay in football more on the football side, so for me it’s absolutely fine.”
If they were to turn their attentions to you on Sunday, would that be a problem?
“In the end, you’re going to be judged and I think yesterday was good, very positive, we got positive critics and everybody’s positive. In football, things can change, things can continue, I don’t believe the hype that much, I don’t believe the drama that much, I know it’s the world we live in. For me, it’s important to stay calm, stay focused, do my job on a daily basis. I think that also has to be the case for this club, we’re not going to turn it around from today to tomorrow, but we’re going to get it done, and I believe in that over the longer future.”
