Bruno Fernandes has spoken about the changes to Manchester United’s training sessions which Ruud Van Nistelrooy brought upon assuming his role as the interim manager of the club.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker was signed from PSV Eindhoven, where he was doing well enough as the team’s head coach, to come and assist Erik ten Hag in ensuring that the 2024/25 season goes well for United. As a unit alongside Reme Hake of Go Ahead Eagles, they failed to inspire much confidence, leading to ten Hag’s eventual sack and Van Nistelrooy’s installation as the club’s interim manager.
He has completed his tenure and will be leaving the role for Ruben Amorim to take over during the international break. The time he spent, however, was memorable for United fans, who witnessed three wins in four games – as many as ten Hag was able to win in the few months of 2024/25 before his sack.
Asked about the changes that Van Nistelrooy brought which helped the team find their scoring boots once again, the former Sporting CP midfielder said: “It’s been a big part, obviously, he felt that everyone was a little bit down.
“Results, everything that succeeded with the manager. He understood that the momentum of the players is not great. The mood was down, the confidence was down, so everything he did every day in training, it was trying to bring joy to the training.
“You know, like trying to bring smiles, trying to be involved, tried to make everyone enjoy it, and make it look a little bit loose, the training. And he brought a lot of energy from that, you know, he brought people fighting, training, running, trying duels and lots of small games, competitions, and that.
“Probably going forward, you needed to do more tactics and whatever,” he added. “For him, in the moment, [it] was just he did it, to be honest, and the training has been really enjoyable. Everyone is feeling like they enjoying the training because he was just bringing that extra joy to the training.
“And I like [that], with small things with small games, just to bring the energy back. And he did it. He did it well. And we said it before the game, we don’t know what’s going to happen to Ruud and the rest of the staff.
“We don’t know who’s going to stay, who doesn’t, and we said it before the game. If this has to be one last dance, it has to be a proper one, because they deserve it for everything they did for us.”
