Speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports , former Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi has made the bold claim that his former club's defeat to Grimsby could be a blessing in disguise, arguing that they must “humble” themselves.
The United States-born former Italy international has also explained why Newcastle are now a more attractive proposition to United.
Rossi also discussed the careers of Italian Internationals Calafori and Donnarumma and says Amorim needs a “United” support team behind if he is to succeed.
Man Utd
Grimsby Defeat A Blessing In Disguise
I actually tweeted this right after the Grimsby game. I tweeted that this is a blessing in disguise for Manchester United. That they lost, that they don't have to worry about it, and that they could only think about league placement. I think that is where success starts from.
Not finishing 16th place and winning the Europa League, or 16th or 15th place and winning an FA Cup. That's not success.
Being able to finish in the top places of your league, showing consistency that you're able to finish at the top of the leagues and being present every single year in Europe, and slowly getting further towards winning it, I think this is how you create culture.
This is how you create results, because when there are results, then you know you're doing something right.
If you're going to try and win the FA Cup to get into Europe, or the League Cup to get into Europe, it's very hard because it takes you that one year that you don't win it, because obviously you can't win it every year. Only one team out of X amount of teams that participate are able to win it.
Therefore, the chances are slimmer than getting into the top four for Champions League out of 20 teams. So the consistency of league play, of placing yourself at the top, that's where success starts. That's where culture starts coming in because you're seeing results. And I hope that Man United is able to not just focus on that, but also be very detailed in things that are happening on the field, which I know Amorim is.
This gives him more time to work on his ways of playing, now on his way of how he wants to present the team every weekend. Like I said, it's a blessing in disguise that there are no more distractions with other competitions, and the focus is mainly on one thing. That's something good that many people maybe don't want to hear, but the reality is this.”
United Must Humble Themselves
Well, there has to be a start somewhere. We can't be happy with "we almost made it to Europe this year." So, placement in the Europa League, yes, would be great. Do you associate Manchester United with the Europa League? No, you don't. But, like I said, the reality is this: we have to see it, we have to believe it. And we just got to get to work.
We have got to get to work, humble ourselves, and we have to try and do something better than last year. Champions League is the ultimate goal. So now, the percentages actually just went up a little bit, right? From 20% to 25%. They're able to, hopefully, they're able to get there, get to Champions League, where the name Manchester United belongs.
Then these guys and this team and the coach could start creating their own legacy. And yeah, if you're thinking about it, if you come in from last year winning the Champions League and winning everything, the standards are set so high.
There's only such a big opportunity, or excuse me, there's a big gap between that success and failure, because you just need to get a second place, and it's failure. But now, you can't go any lower, and if you go any lower, it's a disaster, right?
The floor is very low. So therefore, you're able to create something now. You're able to create something better, more, just something that fans could be proud of again.
You have such a great opportunity where it's just league-based concentration, getting the highest we can, hopefully, in the Champions League, and creating the start of something.”
Newcastle
Newcastle Are More Attractive Now!
Sandro Tonali? Right now, the reality is that Newcastle is the place to be, not Manchester United. That's a sad truth. When I was at Manchester United, I was actually loaned out to Newcastle for about half a year. It's crazy how the tables have turned in 20 years.
It really stings to say that. But that's the reality. I don't think Manchester United need to start buying players left and right. Create an identity with the players you have now. No more distractions with the market and all this nonsense.
Create your identity with the players you have. Players adapt to coaching, coaching adapts to players. Create something common among all of you, and let's go after these objectives that you've set.
They should already have these objectives in mind and be working towards them, which I'm sure they are. So, this is the time for everyone to get together, work towards this one common goal, and hopefully, by May, we'll see the results.
Italian Internationals
Donnarumma
It would have been great to see Gianluigi Donnarumma with Manchester United, and great for the club. However, to acquire such players, you have to compete at the highest level, which Manchester United is not currently doing.
Therefore, we must set aside the thoughts of players like Sandro Tonali and Donnarumma and return to the fundamentals, training, establishing an identity, and fostering a winning culture. Once the team is competing at the highest level in the league, then we can start to consider such acquisitions.
Calafiori
I think Riccardo Calafiori is doing great. I think he's integrated himself very well. Five, six, seven years ago, Arsenal weren't doing well. I'm not sure if they even qualified for Europe. So they had to start from zero.
They were able to find the right coach, the right leadership, who believed in himself but also had the time to bring forth his ideas and do what he had to do in order to bring Arsenal to the top. So, as much as I say, "adapt to the coaches," coaches adapt to the players.
The management needs to have the patience, along with the fans, which is very hard, and I totally understand, to have the patience to let people go to work so then their work could be fulfilled.
Once that work is fulfilled and they've had some time, and things go bad, yes, sack them. But, you know, it's important to have continuity. And Mikel Arteta has had that there at Arsenal.
Now we're seeing consistent results of Arsenal in the Champions League, in the Europa, in Champions League, coming close to winning the league. And, you know, each year the team's ambition has gotten closer and closer to being the best team in the Premier League, if not in Europe. So that's how you build something.
Ruben Amorim
Amorim Needs A United Support Team
You don't just start throwing pieces away left and right and then hope something sticks. When you're hoping for something like that, without having any prior knowledge or any type of research on how this could work, you're, it's never going to really stick. Nothing's really going to stick and stay forever.
So it's important if they found it in Rubem Amorim to be the person to bring forth the ideas that could be winning, staying true to Manchester United's culture that has been set forth by Sir Alex Ferguson and meshing together his ideas of how the game should be played, how his team should be played. It's a formula where everybody needs to chip in, not only coaches and players, but everybody.
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