“He wants a harmonious environment. A proper culture of respect.”
Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were controversially left out of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United squad for last Sunday’s 2-1 over Man City.
Rumours have flown around as to why these two key attackers were made absent, with some speculating that they had been out at a nightclub in the days leading up to the derby.
New United boss Amorim did not give a definitive explanation but did provide more detail on his and his staff’s evaluation of players.
He said: “We try to evaluate everything – training, performance, game performance, engagement with the teammates, push the teammates up.
“Everything is on the line when we analyse and try to choose the players, so it was my selection. Simple.
“But, like I said, I pay attention to everything – the way you eat, the way you put on your clothes to go the game. Everything.
“I make my evaluation and then I have to decide. I have a lot of players to choose (from) and today I made my choice.”
Speaking on his Rio Presents podcast, Man United legend Rio Ferdinand believes that it is a non-football-related incident that has been picked up at the club’s training ground.
He said: “This manager doesn’t seem to be the type of guy that will let stuff slide.
“He seems to be a very honest and straightforward guy. We saw Erik ten Hag do this early, going against players.
“But in time, the consistency wasn’t there across the board with other players. The squad then starts picking holes in that. I’d like to think it’s different with Amorim, he seems very direct, ‘You’re not playing – that’s it and that’s why’.
“I think in the training ground, he’s instructed all of his staff to keep their eyes open about everything.
“How do these players interact with all members of staff? How are they when I’m not in the room? He seems like a man of detail.
“He wants a harmonious environment. A proper culture of respect. I think he’s seen or heard a couple of things that he isn’t quite happy with. There’s something not related to football that I think has happened. They probably flippantly did not say hello to someone or have not been as warm to people.
“These little one-per-centers add up to building a culture to win. If you let these go, the culture to win takes even longer. Every single detail, ‘I don’t like that, nail it’. Punctuality, respect for teammates, etc.”
“I think something’s gone on in the training ground, and I’m not privy to that information, but for him to talk about things not related to football about why players aren’t in his squad that week, something’s happened off the pitch. He’s thought ‘That ain’t for me’. And by the way, I love it.”
