00:00To outright say that the lack of sign-ins or more sign-ins across the summer has been
00:03a factor this season but do you agree potentially that it has been a factor in these pro results
00:08because last season, as you said, you've won more points than any of a Premier League manager
00:12and it's been so different this time around, do you think that is a factor in play here?
00:16I think there's a lot of different elements, some smaller than others, of why we've ended
00:22up not winning as many games so I'm pretty clear about that.
00:27Has anyone from above conceded that perhaps you could have received more support across the summer?
00:32No, it's not about receiving more support, it's about doing what's right on the football pitch to get results
00:39and we haven't done enough of that lately.
00:44When you came in last Friday you talked about how good the training had been before Leeds
00:48and then there was a positive performance at Leeds, it felt like you went to Como with a little bit
00:52more positivity and because of that the manner of the performance at Como was a little bit of a shock.
00:58With that in mind, do you trust the players on Sunday to deliver what you're asking them to?
01:03I definitely trust them, 100% I trust them, it wasn't a very good night at all for so many
01:09reasons.
01:10We all know that, I think that's pretty obvious, I definitely trust them, I trust them.
01:15We'll be a different team on Sunday, we have to be a different team on Sunday.
01:20Hi Michael, just going back to Simon's question before and your comments to Bruno on Wednesday
01:24night about running. Ruben Amarim came into this job and he said he'd make the players run like mad
01:31dogs. It didn't happen. Ralph Raniak we know had to send him on a punishment run in his second or
01:36third game because of the lack of running. Ralph Raniak came here with a name for having his
01:42kind of gay compression, high pressing, it lasted half a game. Why are the players here not running?
01:48It's a basic requirement of an athlete and it seems staggering to us and to the fans why over
01:54many years now the players are not simply running. I think you've got to be careful with just saying
01:59not running. As I said we've won a lot of games over a period of time and this pressing thing
02:06that
02:06suddenly everyone thinks about pressing is one small part of football. There's all sorts of different
02:15ways of what people class as a press. What actually is it? What are you doing it for? Is it
02:19to your
02:19strength? Is it covering up other spaces? It's just thrown about as a bit of a word at the minute
02:25of
02:25pressing. You don't necessarily need to press to win games for football. Sometimes you do, sometimes you
02:31don't. It's just a thing that gets thrown about. We've got to be a bit careful with that. As I
02:38say it's not
02:39necessarily just running stats that fine football games either. We've just got to get back to doing a
02:45lot of the things that we were doing last season and for certain parts of the season and certain
02:49games we've been okay. We need to get back to being at our best. It feels like part of a
02:54wider
02:55cultural issue here. Since Como, in your defence, people have kind of floated the idea that this
03:01team and this club at the moment is unmanageable. Do you feel it's unmanageable? No.
03:08Just a little bit on what was so successful in that period when you were interim manager. It felt
03:13like there was a lot more urgency and adventure to the play. Do you feel like you can still play
03:18that way with this group in this current form with the players that are out and with the sign-ins
03:22and everything? That feels like maybe that was what Bruno was perhaps striking at the heart of.
03:27We can play in different ways. We just haven't played well enough. I think it gets looked into
03:33all sorts of different styles and different this and that impresses and it tries to get dissected
03:39in all sorts of different ways. We can be a lot better than we have been. Whatever way we end
03:45up
03:45playing, whatever system, whatever the tactics, we can be a lot better than that and we have to be.
03:50Can I just ask you, in terms of opening this with a very stirring monologue, I would have to say,
03:54in terms of invoking your history with the club, the thought process behind that and wanting to
03:59take the initiative here, where did that come from and how long have you been thinking about that?
04:02Because I understand the situation, I fully understand the situation and I understand my
04:06position and I know what this football club means to so many people. Please don't say that the history is
04:14one thing and that's why it doesn't give you the right to keep winning. Teams that win earn the
04:21right to win. So it's important that we draw inspiration from the history and the past of
04:27what's gone on. But our responsibility is to carry that forward and it's so important to me that we do
04:35that.
04:37You mentioned Ferguson and your opening address, have you sought any advice from him or Ole for that
04:42matter given the difficult time he went through? I speak to both of them quite regular to be honest,
04:48so there's nothing in particular from that. I'm close to both of them and we do have regular
04:54conversations. Oh, it's nothing different this week.
