Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim says he will not pick Kobbie Mainoo for the first XI, or not pick him, because of an incident involving the player’s brother.
Amorim was speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to face Aston Villa at Villa Park.
First on the agenda was team news for the game.
“I think everyone is well, we have one more training but today the rest of the guys are ready to go;” Amorim said. Asked if that means Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt are available, he replied “no. I’m saying that nobody recovers, nobody else is out.”
On Kobbie Mainoo’s t-shirt incident
As expected, Amorim was then asked about Kobbie Mainoo’s brother wearing a “Free Kobbie Mainoo” t-shirt at Monday’s match. There have been reports that it was done with Kobbie’s blessing.
“No, was not Kobbie that wore the t-shirt, he’s not going to start because of the t-shirt and he’s not going to the bench because of the t-shirt,” Amorim insisted. “He’s going to play if we feel he’s the right guy. I’m used to it, I’ve been here for a year. I’m not going to do something to Kobbie because someone on his family is doing something, it’s going to be the same. If he’s the right guy to play, he’ll play.”
On Sunday’s Opponents
Asks what he expects from Sunday’s game, Amorim said:
“Everything can happen. They have a manager with a lot of experience, you can see when you watch Villa you can sense it’s a very mature team, he doesn’t panic when they’re losing, he doesn’t feel overwhelmed when winning, he can control the emotion. I think they are a very strong team. If they are going to fight until the end, I don’t know, but they are capable of that.
The next question was “In terms of United, at the moment, only City, have scored more goals. You probably conceded more than you wanted to. How do you find the balance between attack and defence?”
“We watched the game again against Bournemouth. We can avoid that goal,” he said. “It was a lot of transition. We have to put everything on the line when we are defending, and sometimes we are not doing that. We need to work on some details to suffer less goals because in the end, it’s going to make the difference.”
Returning to the subject of Kobbie Mainoo, the boss was asked if he had spoken to the player.
“He played really well. That is the important thing. Then my office is always open. Nobody went there this week. I think everything is normal and we are ready to go to Villa.”
Bruno Fernandes comments
Next up was the interview released this week with Bruno Fernandes, in which he stated he was unhappy that the club was willing to sell him in the summer.
“How have you found … Bruno’s interview from a few weeks ago came out with some quotes. I know he did another interview with the club as well, with Rio Ferdinand, but it’s just another situation that you have to deal with.”
Amorim answered:
“The difference is that he spoke with the club before that interview and he said what he’s feeling. Of course, we can avoid these things because we already know the noise. But he talk with the board and I think everything is clear.”
A reporter followed up with “One of the things that he did say in the interview that he did with the Portuguese Federation was that he didn’t think that everybody defended the club the way that he does, that almost as though some people don’t care as much as he does. Is that fair? What do you think?”
“I don’t know it’s fair,” he answered. “He just spoke about what is his feelings, and he needs to answer to that. It’s not me. I think he is an example that he gives everything. He puts everything on the line in every training, in every match. In that department, he’s special. I think he has that feeling. We need to step up and to have also that feeling. We need to ask him because I think he’s a big example in the group.”
The Kobbie Mainoo issued then reappeared again, with Amorim being asked if the leadership group had been involved with the issue.
“It continues a little bit of everything on my desk, every problem at the football club is on my desk. It will take time. Kobbie’s job is to train and play, I felt he did really well in this game.”
Amorim’s academy comments
In the last pre-match press conference Amorim made some controversial remarks about how academy stars have struggled on loan. He was asked to comment on this.
“I think the feeling a little bit of entitled one we have in our club, sometimes strong words is not bad words, difficult moments are not bad for the kids. We don’t need always to be accolades for every situation. You guys talk about players who speak against clubs because you feel entitlement, then you have legends so if you don’t play, leave because everyone is wrong. No, stay and fight, I have the feeling we need to fight against this feeling. I’m the first one to say I’m failing. Outside the pitch I guarantee I’m not failing this club. We forget the players what it means to play for Man United, we as a club forget sometimes who we are. It’s the environment, the kids feel entitled and free to respond to the manager with a picture. My office is open but nobody is coming to me. We need to change as a club. I didn’t say anything wrong, I spoke about how the luck of playing for Man United. Sometimes you play for Man United and see different realities and you understand football can be so different. That was my point.”
The presser is ongoing, please refresh this page regularly for updates.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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