Casemiro has started the last four games you’ve been unbeaten. He has an option of a one-year [contract extension]. Would you be in favour of him staying long term at the club?
"Yeah, we don't know what is going to happen. My goal is to continue to count with Casemiro, with Harry Maguire, he has the same problem. I don't know what is going to happen. Let's focus on this season. I'm really happy with Casemiro, he is really important. I'm really happy with Harry, but I know what you guys are asking. Let's focus on this season and then we'll see the next season."
I know you have a long-term plan to get this club back to where you want it to be. At half-time against Forest you were up to second in the table which shows how tight it is at the top. Given that you're not playing European football, do you feel there is an opportunity to do something special this season, exceed expectations and jump ahead in the long-term planning?
"What I think is that we can win any game. If we have this opportunity, let's make everything to win. Let's try to address every detail to try to win every game. I don't want to talk about the new goal. You said yourself that everything is so close, everything's so close up [at the top of the table], and everything's so close down [at the bottom]. Three weeks can change everything. It changed everything. We had a completely different conversation four weeks ago. So, let's focus on the next game, what we can do. I also agree that when you are one down, playing away, feeling in control of the game, knowing that you can be in second place near the top, we could start that second half in the different way. That I can agree [with] and the players felt that and we talk about that during the week. So let's focus just winning [against] Tottenham. Can we win Tottenham? I think we can. Let's do everything to win the next one."
Has Benjamin Sesko started how you would have expected him to start having not played in the Premier League before. It seemed at Forest that Bruno got frustrated with him, he had a good chance when the ball came over [towards Bruno's path and Benjamin shot instead]. Are you quite relaxed with his form at the moment?
"Yeah, I'm relaxed. He's not relaxed. What I mean is that I understand how things are in football and he's going to struggle. That is normal. He has no experience here, and then the first impact when everyone says that you are so good, you are the next big thing, and you hear about that with Sesko, and then you come to one club that is the hardest club. If you don't perform every week, you are going to hear a lot of things from club legends, from pundits, from the media, and sometimes they are right. To have the ability to understand that is normal and still maintain your level of confidence is really hard for a young kid, especially for a young kid that is a control freak, wants to control everything, and he's not going to control everything. So I know, and I say that when I start training with Ben, he has more potential than I was thinking. He’s going to struggle and we need to understand how he likes to play, [and] also to put in our ideas. So, [with] everything, I think I'm quite relaxed with that. He is going to be our striker for the long term. But he's going to have these struggles and these bumps during the ride, and that is a normal thing in football."
Gary Neville said Benjamin Sesko looks miles off it, what did you think of that and do you think players are affected by comments from former players?
"Of course, nobody likes to hear [that], but he struggled a little bit, and that is a fact. So, let's embrace that. It’s not personal, it’s not nothing. That is what I try to explain to the players. That it is not personal. It's an opinion that is going to change in three weeks. Everything that is true today, in three weeks, could be a lie. So, of course, it's hard to hear, but my advice to Ben is you are going to get used [to it]. And then it's going to be natural. It's going to be like your Monday here. So that is part of the process and we are going to help him and we are going to protect Ben because he works really hard and we want to succeed. So he's going to succeed."
You spoke last week about how hard losing the final to Tottenham hit you. They changed coach and this club didn’t. Does that tell you how fine the fine margins are in this industry and the importance of a club backing their manager?
"It’s completely different. I said already, I'm really lucky to be here, and I know that. That is also important, for someone to understand how lucky I am to have this opportunity. If you see the game, I think we deserve to win. In the end, it doesn't matter. It's hard to see a coach that wins a European cup to go away and the other guy stays. But sometimes it's the difference of maybe in the future to win more important titles. So that's, I think, what Manchester United is thinking. Let's give time to the coach and see what's happening. And then we'll see. So I just want to say about that question, that I'm really lucky to have the support that I have in this club."
Bruno Fernandes is obviously hugely important for this club. His appearance record is incredible. He’s a little older than when he first came here. Is there a point when you think about rotating or resting him or do you monitor him and give him days off if he needs them?
"We have one game per week. He's always available. It's really hard. I said already, we have good things on that to play just one game, but then there's a lot of players that should be playing, should be dividing the minutes, should be fighting for their places in a different way. But we don't have the space. So I'm not thinking about now the rotation of the players. In the future, yes, is something that Bruno needs to understand: in this league, if you want to win every game that you are part [of], with European games, [you're] going to have to rotate. So, good question, just for Bruno to put in his head that maybe next year he's going to be in rotation in the team."