In his passionate notes Ryan Giggs said: “I’ve supported United all my life. It’s the rock which my life has been built upon and I can promise you that I will give this job the best I can in the last four games of the season.”
Giggs' Maiden XI
De Gea, Jones, Vidic (c), Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Cleverley, Kagawa, Welbeck, Rooney
Subs
Lindegaard, Smalling, Mata, Chicharito, Nani, Young, Fletcher
Cleverley (Hernandez 72), Kagawa (Young 65) and Welbeck (Mata 60).
“The hardest part has been leaving players out because everyone has looked sharp this week,” said Giggs.
Check out Match Report: Manchester United 4-0 Norwich City!
Giggs was extremely impressed by how Manchester United played for his first match as interim manager after they recorded a 4-0 victory over Norwich City on Saturday.
"I was nervous, but as soon as I came out of the tunnel the reception I got, the staff got and the players got was brilliant," he told MUTV. "I've got to thank the fans for that because it’s not been an easy week, but I felt ten feet tall."
“It’s a perfect day. To score four goals & keep a clean sheet is great. Some of the performances were outstanding.”
Giggs thanked the Manchester United fans for an “amazing reception” and jokingly added: “I might retire from management now with a 100% record!”
“We looked like scoring goals and creating chances," he told Sky Sports. "In the first half, we were a little bit slow, so I just reminded the players that the tempo needed to be quicker and they reacted well to that."
“They’re all good players and all of us have let ourselves down this year. We haven’t played to the level that we’re capable of this season, but we did that today. I said yesterday that it can’t just be for one game, it has to be for longer than that. Every time you play for Manchester United you have to stay at that level, and they have to keep to these standards against Sunderland."
When asked about his team ahead of the game against Norwich, he revealed that it was a hard decision to make.
“I didn’t sleep last night. Leaving the likes of Juan Mata out of the starting 11 was a difficult decision, it was a position I’d never been in before. I’m interim manager, but I’m also one of their team mates, so leaving them out was tough."
"I told them all individually before the game, a few of them were upset and rightly so. But they didn’t sulk; you saw the response of Juan. That’s a true professional, to not moan and come on to produce a performance like that for half an hour."
“I said before the game that I could have played two teams, because the response of the players has been brilliant, I trust them all. It was really difficult to choose the team, but Rio and Nemanja have got that experience, as well as Patrice. I wanted experience in the team, because I knew that it would be an emotionally-charged day and that we wouldn’t have it all our own way. Norwich are fighting for their lives, I know these players and they didn’t let me down."
The victory was United's biggest home win of the season but Giggs remains focused on the remaining games: “I’m just thinking about these three games. It has taken so much out of me this week that I haven’t really thought about the future. My job now is to get ready for Sunderland. They’ve just told me that I’ve got this job for four games. It’s one down, and three to go, and as far as I’m concerned that’s where my concentration is. I’ll do the job to the best of my ability and then afterwards we will have to see what happens."
When asked about his future as a player, Giggs suggested that someday soon he will make a return to the pitch: “I haven’t had time to train this week, I haven’t had the energy. I’m going to start training on Monday, I knew that last week would be busy but I’ll be back on the pitch and I can’t wait."
ACCORDING TO THE TEAM
Patrice Evra believes Ryan Giggs is a perfect fit for the job as temporary Reds manager: “He is a natural. As a person and a player he instantly gets that respect.”
Captain Nemanja Vidic said this about Giggs’ approach, “He wants to attack. That’s how he played & he wants to transfer that to the players."
On playing under Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney says, “He's built to be a manager. We can see that in how he has handled himself since he took over.”
On Giggs, Juan Mata said, “It’s a pleasure to play for him. He’s a proper United boy.”
Sounds to me like they love playing under Giggs or better yet, the love playing for Giggs. Its only been one match but, he knows how to handle his team. He was incredible yesterday.
