- 28/11/2023
Ten Hag and Fernandes previews Utd's must win UCL match at Galatasaray
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00:00 You've worked so hard to get into the Champions League and you've not always managed it.
00:05 How much of a blow would it be if you didn't qualify for the knockout round?
00:11 Obviously for us it's really important to be in the competition.
00:16 We want to be in the middle of the best clubs in Europe.
00:20 As you said, it's obviously disappointing if we don't go through.
00:25 I'm not thinking on that at the moment.
00:28 I'm just focused on the game against Galatasaray because the only way we can go through is
00:31 winning against Galatasaray and going to the last game with a chance to go through.
00:37 Our focus at the moment is on winning this game, knowing that we play against such a
00:42 good opponent.
00:44 Away from home where the atmosphere will be intense.
00:47 But I think everyone as a kid, you enjoy and you want to be in these kind of stages, big
00:53 stadiums, big atmosphere.
00:55 So you just have to enjoy the challenge.
00:57 Can I just ask you, from the team that lost against Galatasaray at home, do you think
01:04 you've improved since then?
01:08 I think so, yeah.
01:11 But probably it will be the same for Galatasaray.
01:15 I think we improved.
01:18 So it's good progress.
01:20 You see we are stepping up.
01:22 We are more stable.
01:25 We are winning games, so definitely there's a big difference from the first moment we
01:32 played them.
01:33 Eric, is Rasmus and Anthony both fit to start the game against Galatasaray, if needed?
01:41 They are in the squad.
01:44 Just on Kobe, you played so well at Goodison, that was a bit of a hostile atmosphere, but
01:48 Galatasaray will be another level.
01:49 Do you have any concerns about starting such a game of importance with such a fierce atmosphere?
01:55 No.
01:56 We don't have fear.
01:59 And if players are good enough, then they are old enough.
02:02 Can I just ask one for Bruno, possibly?
02:05 You gave Marcus the ball for the penalty, I just wonder, was that something in your
02:08 mind before the game or was that just in the moment?
02:11 No, it was in the moment.
02:14 As I talk about this already, I thought that Marcus needed his first goal.
02:18 He's such an important player for us that he hasn't scored in the Premier League this
02:23 season yet.
02:24 Last season he was our top scorer, so we know that he's important for us, he's someone
02:28 that can score a lot of goals.
02:30 I think strikers, wingers, sometimes it's about getting this first goal and after that
02:35 they're going to get straight on that to score more and more goals.
02:40 We need our strikers, our wingers to be in the positions to score goals and to have the
02:45 confidence to score them.
02:49 The results away from home in Europe haven't been great this season.
02:53 What gives you the belief that the team can go there tomorrow in what's a hostile atmosphere
02:59 and get the win you need?
03:00 Because it's a must-win game, of course.
03:03 You can always find.
03:06 Last year we couldn't win away from home, that was an issue.
03:10 Now we can't win at home.
03:14 Now we win away games, and now you're bringing up we don't win away games in Europe.
03:19 We know we can do it and we are confident, because the last games away from home in the
03:26 league were also very hostile environments.
03:29 We played very well, we were very calm and composed.
03:35 This team also last year in Barcelona, so we know how to deal with it and I'm sure there
03:41 will be a confident team on the pitch tomorrow.
03:43 Is that something you'll stress to the players and Bruno as well as the captain, that you
03:47 need to keep your heads, you have to be disciplined tomorrow night, not react to anything?
03:52 Because there will be provocation, the opponents will be trying to do that to you.
03:57 How important is it to not rise to that?
04:00 Absolutely.
04:01 You have to stay calm in your head and don't get too emotional.
04:07 You need emotion but you have to control it.
04:10 You don't give them anything, you don't give the refereeing as well that moment that they
04:19 can't take.
04:21 So you have to stay away from such moments.
04:26 We know how to deal with it.
04:27 You have to play confident and you have to make it your game.
04:30 So it's not that important how the opponent is playing, it's important how we are playing,
04:36 how we are dealing with possession, how we are dealing with out-of-possession,
04:40 so normal stuff.
04:42 We will make a good plan but then at the end of the moment the players have to decide,
04:50 they have to manage the game.
04:52 Hi, Eric.
04:53 A bit like winning at Everton, how much of a boost would a win be in Turkey for the development
05:01 of your team and where you'd like to go this season?
05:04 You're obviously getting better and this would kick you on again, I suppose.
05:08 Of course it will help, but as the previous question on Bruno,
05:14 I don't think in scenarios, first we have to do it.
05:18 So rise to the occasion, get the performance and then we see what it will do with the team.
05:27 I think you can point out what it will do.
05:30 Same as we beat Everton, a difficult game in that environment,
05:37 an opponent in form, if you beat them it gives belief and confidence.
05:42 Just with regard to Bruno giving the penalty to Marcus at Everton,
05:46 as a manager do you support that?
05:48 Because you're 1-0 up, you need a win, it's great that it went in,
05:51 but if it doesn't go in do you just say, "Fair play to Bruno for showing leadership,"
05:54 or do you think, "Well, you're the penalty taker, you should have taken it"?
05:57 We have a list of penalty takers and there is no number for the penalty taker
06:04 who is going to be the first, second or third.
06:06 It's been myself because in the past few years it's always been me,
06:10 but when I arrived at the club Marcus was the penalty taker.
06:13 He was injured when I arrived and I started taking my penalties,
06:16 so he was always respectful on the side of saying,
06:19 "You're doing it now, you're doing it well, so keep going."
06:23 At moments he had his moment to take the penalty,
06:25 sometimes we had moments to give the ball to each other.
06:29 I think it's not important who takes it because I think the manager puts a paper out there
06:34 with the penalty takers and the two names for that game were me and Marcus,
06:38 so it's just about deciding who's going to take that.
06:42 It doesn't have to be always Bruno, it doesn't have to be always Marcus,
06:46 but it has to be someone where we are 100% sure that the ball is going to go in.
06:53 We're never 100% sure because it's 50-50 every time.
06:56 I could have taken the penalty and missed probably, and we'll never know,
06:59 but the thing is that Marcus took it in the score and there's no issue about that.
07:04 Thank you.
07:05 It's not 50-50, yeah.
07:08 With them we are confident with Messi and with Bruno,
07:11 we know they will score, but I want to emphasise I think it's great leadership.
07:16 If you understand that your team-mate needs the goal and you have confidence in each other
07:24 to give the penalty away, I'm sure Bruno would have made them as well.
07:28 Is this a good example of why Bruno is your captain?
07:32 It is one of the examples, yeah.
07:34 I just wanted to ask about Kobe Mane, because obviously there's been a lot of attention on him
07:39 since his performance on Sunday.
07:41 His performance, but even looking longer term, and talk about his international future as well.
07:45 Do you welcome that kind of attention or do you need to calm it down a little bit,
07:49 given it's such a fledgling career at the moment?
07:52 I think we are very pleased with his performance,
07:58 but it's one performance and you have to do it on a consistent base.
08:02 Kobe is so mature, he knows that, and we are confident he will do it.
08:07 But first you have to prove, as we all have to prove,
08:11 that you are always that good as your last game.
08:15 When he's getting that kind of attention, how do you look after a young player in this kind of environment?
08:23 Enjoy it first, but keep the focus on the game,
08:29 so don't get distracted from it,
08:34 and that your focus is going to things that are next to football,
08:42 not into football. It's about the game.
08:45 You have to focus on your game, on your performance, and get the right levels in.
08:52 If a player, when we see, when we observe, he is getting distracted from it,
09:00 and when he's going to move away from football, we will tell him.
09:04 But until that point, we don't do it.
09:08 I see in training the levels, so I'm not concerned in this moment that Kobe gets distracted from it.
09:14 Eric, I just wanted to ask you, with Marcus out for tomorrow's game,
09:18 there's an opening, a right wing,
09:20 and Plestry's been doing really well off the bench,
09:23 how do you see his development so far and maybe transcending into being a starter eventually?
09:27 Pelle also has to make now a step from a bench player coming in,
09:37 often having a very good impact, to a starter level player.
09:41 We will see how quick that process will go.
09:45 Bruno, obviously it was great leadership to give the penalty to Marcus at the weekend,
09:54 is it frustrating for you when outside, and sometimes critique your capacity style,
09:59 when it's clear on the pitch that you're always giving everything to the team?
10:02 No, obviously you don't like it, you don't like to be criticised,
10:06 I think everyone is the same.
10:08 But at the same time, I have to do the best, or what I think is the best for the team.
10:14 I'm not always right, but in my head at the moment, it's the right choice, so I do it.
10:20 I think it's quite normal when you play for Man United that you're going to be criticised,
10:25 even if you do well or bad, if you do the right thing or the wrong thing.
10:29 So I just have to deal with that, it's kind of normal since I arrived at the club.
10:33 In the beginning, everything was perfect, because when you arrive,
10:37 and in the first game, if you do something different than anyone else is doing,
10:41 it's going to be all flowers, but after that I understand that the tough part is always coming
10:46 after the first games, because when the result is not coming,
10:50 when the performance is not as everyone expects it to be,
10:54 because the expectations are always higher and higher.
10:57 I know that since I arrived at the club, obviously my numbers made myself a target,
11:02 so not keeping the same numbers on assists or goals sometimes is a problem for me
11:10 in the criticism, because they're going to take from there.
11:14 Now is the captaincy, but it's going to be always something.
11:18 My focus is on the team, on the staff, on everyone that works here with me day by day.
11:24 I think they're pretty happy with me.
11:26 The way I am, it's the same since I arrived at the club,
11:31 it's not changed by being the captain.
11:33 I don't think it has to change.
11:35 I'm really open with everyone, so no one until now has had a problem with me.
11:41 I think I should keep it like that.
11:44 Everyone here is pretty happy with my leadership,
11:47 so I think I have to keep it the same way.
11:49 Alejandro Garnaccio scored one of the best goals of the season.
11:54 Does that give the team a lift ahead of such an important game against Galatasaray?
12:01 No, it gives a lift against Everton.
12:04 I hope we can do it against Galatasaray.
12:07 It would be amazing to have another goal like that.
12:10 Obviously, we expect moments like that from Garnaccio.
12:14 He's a special talent that has these moments in games that can help us win games.
12:20 We have such young players in front that in moments they can change the game to our side.
12:25 I think we had it in the past, even most recently with Scott against Brentford at home.
12:32 Not being a striker, coming in and having that moment inside of the box as a striker,
12:38 that gives you the win.
12:40 You need these special things sometimes to win games.
12:45 Garnaccio has done it many times.
12:48 Both Antonio and Pellistri are capable of doing it.
12:52 Rasmus can do it too.
12:54 After us from behind as midfielders and defenders,
12:58 in some moments we can have a ball where we can decide the game and we have to take it.
13:02 Is it true that Alejandro has been practising those moves in training, the bicycle kicks?
13:07 Do you think he has the mentality to become one of the best players in the world?
13:11 I don't know if he's been training that.
13:14 It's not going to be good for his back.
13:17 As I said, he has that special talent for big moments to be decisive.
13:25 I'm more happy for his work of the ball against Everton.
13:31 For me, it was the best game he has done until now.
13:33 It was amazing.
13:35 When he can put together that with his qualities to score goals and help the team up front,
13:41 he's going to be such a good player.
13:43 He's already a great player, but for his age and his talent,
13:48 he can be much better than he is already.
13:51 Finally, we have two questions from Turkish media.
13:57 The first one from Anadolu Agency is...
13:59 "Galatasaray's victory over Manchester United in 1993 is a very important milestone in Turkish football
14:05 and it was the game that created Galatasaray's famous chant 'Welcome to Hell'.
14:09 How do you plan to protect your players from the feverish atmosphere in Istanbul
14:12 and what are your plans to get out of Hell?"
14:15 We have to make it our game and it's their history.
14:19 Obviously Manchester United has a great history,
14:22 but you can't take any guarantee from it in the future.
14:28 So we have to make our own future.
14:30 The next question is from TRT Sport.
14:33 "In the previous three matches played against Galatasaray in Istanbul,
14:36 Manchester United have failed to win or score a goal.
14:39 Do you feel any pressure because of this?
14:41 And looking back on your defeat to Galatasaray at Old Trafford last month,
14:44 in your opinion, what did you do wrong in that game and what lessons did you learn from it?"
14:48 I think it's a similar answer.
14:50 It's the past, so tomorrow it's about the future.
14:54 So we have to make it our game, so it's on us.
14:58 Thank you very much.
15:00 Thank you.
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