Andy Cole: ‘Rúben Amorim needs to hit the ground running at Manchester United’

With Rúben Amorim’s arrival at Manchester United set for the international break, club legend Andy Cole believes that the former Portugal international needs to hit the ground running at Old Trafford to avoid immediate media scrutiny. In an exclusive chat with Betfred, Cole also spoke to us regarding whether he believes Viktor Gyökeres could follow his former manager to Old Trafford, whether he believes Ruud van Nistelrooy will be a part of Amorim’s backroom staff and which club he believes will win the Premier League title this season.

Do you have any reservations about incoming Manchester United manager Rúben Amorim or do you believe he’s one of best options they could have gone for?

“I’ve got to be honest, I don’t know. Who was out there? He’s got a big job ahead of him. He’s a young, exciting coach and I just wish the best for him. It’s obviously been very tough for the previous six managers, but I just hope that Rúben can hit the ground running, get the results he’s looking for straight away and go from there. Fingers crossed he can hit the ground running.”

Are you excited by what you hear about Rúben Amorim?

“Yes of course, but you’ve also got to look at it from a different angle because it’s a different league and different players. The players at Manchester United are totally different to the players he’s working with at Sporting Lisbon. 

“We just need to see how the next couple of months go with him because he’s going to take a bit of time to get used to the players he’ll have in the squad and they’ve got to get used to him. We don’t know if he’s going to implement this system he prefers, with the three at the back, so we just have to wait and see. If he doesn’t hit the ground running, then you can just imagine what the media are going to be like with him.

“There have been many different stories since he’s been appointed. Some suggested he only wanted to leave Sporting Lisbon at the end of this season, but you just don’t know what to believe. He’s got the international break to work with the players and we can’t just look into a crystal ball and say he’s going to do X, Y and Z because whenever a new manager comes to the club, we say that they’re going to do unbelievable things and unfortunately, it doesn’t work out like that and that’s why Manchester United are changing their manager again.”

Are there any players you worry for in particular in this 3-4-3 system that Amorim employs?

“He’s been brought to the club to make these decisions. He needs to find out which players suit the system and which players don’t. It’s difficult for me to sit here and speculate who’s going to stay at the club and who’s going to go. He needs to find a pattern of play that suits him, suits his players and provides the best chance for them to win football matches. That’s what it’s all about.”

Do you believe Amorim will necessarily stick with his desired system once he takes the reins at Old Trafford?

“The Premier League is totally different to the Portuguese league, La Liga, Serie A and all the other leagues abroad. I don’t think there’s many teams in the Premier League that play with three at the back. Back in the day when I was playing, there were a few teams that experimented with it when foreign managers came in and then they’d soon realise that the Premier League is totally different and the system didn’t work. We will have to wait and see if it can work for Rúben Amorim and Manchester United. 

“Ultimately, at the start you’d expect to see some trial and error. You’d expect him to try things out and see what works and what doesn’t. From what we hear, he’s a very intelligent coach that will look to try things. The Premier League doesn’t get any easier and nobody’s expecting Manchester United to start immediately challenging purely on the basis that they’ve changed their manager. If Manchester United are competing again in the next few years, then they’ve done well. At the moment, the gap's a lot bigger for Manchester United than everybody believed it was.” 

Do you hope Ruud van Nistelrooy stays within Amorim’s backroom staff?

“It’s difficult to say because when a new manager comes in, they’ll always want to bring in their own staff with them. The new manager will decide who he wants to stay and who he doesn’t. There’s not many coaches that stay when the manager goes and ultimately, when you stay, you eventually get moved on nine times out of ten. 

“It seems as if everybody enjoys what Ruud is doing at the club currently and I always got on well with him when we were playing together so if he stays, I’ll be happy for him and if he doesn’t, I have no doubts that he’ll get himself another job after what he’s done at Manchester United.”

What should Amorim's target be for this season with this current group of players?

“To win as many games as possible. I’m not going to say that they should be aiming to finish in the Champions League places because at the moment, that’s going to be very, very tough for them to achieve that. He and the team just need to aim to win as many games as possible and see where they end up. It’s that simple. They shouldn’t aim to finish in the top four because they’ll just be putting more pressure on themselves, so they should just look to win as many games as possible because for them to finish in the top four, they’ll have to rely on help from other clubs to achieve that. They should just focus on themselves.”

Do you believe Manuel Ugarte is going to majorly benefit from his former manager’s appointment? 

“When a new manager comes in, everybody starts on a clean slate. Regardless of whether you’ve played, or haven’t played, for a manager previously, the manager’s got to make the best decisions for themself in regards to getting results. 

“Manchester United is a totally different entity to Sporting Lisbon. It’s a totally different league. We’ll have to wait and see how the change of manager will impact Ugarte, but Amorim will already know his strengths and weaknesses. However, everybody has a clean slate, not just Manuel Ugarte.”

Are you concerned by Joshua Zirkzee’s recent performances for Manchester United? What areas in particular do you believe he needs to improve in?

“He’s already come out and said that he’s a 9.5 rather than a nine, so that’s what he is. We don’t know what the management expects from him and we don’t even know if they bought him with the expectation of him being a prolific goalscorer for the club. 

“Manchester United are currently one of the lowest goalscoring teams in the Premier League. That’s not Manchester United. We used to be the highest and that was down to play attacking football. The new manager needs to try and get the best out of these guys and that’s by getting them to either create or finish chances.”

Do you expect Amorim to encourage the club to sign the former Coventry striker Viktor Gyökeres?

“A lot of teams will look abroad at players and think “they could play in the Premier League”, but there’s a lot of players in the Championship that could be given the same opportunity. That’s the way I view it. Gyökeres has moved from the Championship to a league abroad and has excelled, so I do ask myself sometimes whether the gap is actually that big. I don’t believe it is. The championship is a difficult league at the best of times, so if you can score goals there, then you should be able to go abroad and do the same.  

“If they want to sign him, then should he come to Manchester United? Yes, why not? That decision, however, will be down to the manager and finances. FFP’s not easy and Manchester United have spent a hell of a lot of money. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

How do you expect Manchester United to get on in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s final match as interim boss against Leicester City on Sunday?

“I think it’ll be tougher than the League Cup game last week because I think Leicester will be at full strength. I just want Manchester United to play as a team and try and get as many wins as they can between now and the end of the season. They just need to try and enjoy it as much as they possibly can. Let’s see players smiling and enjoying their football. That’s what they need to do.”

The Telegraph have reported that Newcastle United are very interested in signing Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo in January. Do you believe now is the time for Mbeumo to make that step up?

“He’s a player that’s already stepped up from the Championship to the Premier League with Brentford and he doesn’t look out of place. If he does have the opportunity to move to that next level, then he won’t let anybody down. He’s a handful. He’s strong, quick, aggressive, scores goals and creates chances, so what more can you ask for? He’s going to do just that.”

Who do you believe will win the Premier League title this season?

“I can’t look past Manchester City. I know they lost against Bournemouth and I know they’ve lost two games on the bounce, but when does that happen? You can’t look further than Manchester City, you really can’t. Sir Alex Ferguson used to say that the season doesn’t start until Easter and when you’re under pressure to win games continuously, the only team I can see doing that is Manchester City.”

Who do you believe are the favourites to secure a fourth place finish in the Premier League this season?

“I saw Aston Villa get pumped by Tottenham 4-1 on Sunday. Did anybody see that coming? Can Tottenham get themselves back in there? Can Newcastle get themselves in there? Can Chelsea? I’m still going to say Aston Villa. I think Unai Emery is a really good manager, they’ve done brilliantly so far in the Champions League and I believe any club would reap the rewards of having someone like Emery as their manager. Arsenal got rid of him early doors, but look how far Aston Villa have come from when he took over to where they are now. That’s not a coincidence. For those reasons, I’m going to say Villa.”