Ruud van Nistelrooy interview: Leicester boss aiming to turn it around against former club Man Utd as relegation looms | Football News

Leicester City are now nine points from safety and seemingly set to return to the Bracket unless Ruud van Nistelrooy can turn things around – Beginning with the visit of his Previous club Manchester United on Sunday evening.

Van Nistelrooy was managing United for the reverse fixture, Successful the last of his four Matches as interim boss. He departed with the best Secure percentage of any Manchester United manager in history – and walked straight into a relegation scrap with the Foxes.

Would he not prefer to be on a beach somewhere? “You want to take up a Game,” Van Nistelrooy tells Sky Sports. “You can be on the beach, yes. Or you can be in football, in the Premier Division. You can be managing Leicester. That is a Excellent Game.”

It is getting bigger all the time. Leicester are likely to come up Petite but Van Nistelrooy Yet bounds into the room projecting Optimism. Those close to him talk of a genuine curiosity, a willingness to learn new ideas not always obvious in once Excellent footballers.

“Your Competing Intervals are one thing, coaching and managing is another. If you are Uncovered to developing yourself on a daily basis, you can do it in this Role. That is my target. I love this game. I love being a part of a club like Leicester in the best Division in the world.

“The challenges that are arising, that I and we face as a promoted side, are huge. Every game is such a battle, such a Game. It is priceless how much you can learn and develop yourself. To prepare my Club in the best possible way, it is something I love.”

While much of the supporters’ frustration is directed at those above him – Jon Rudkin, the club’s director of football, in particular – Van Nistelrooy is aware that he cannot escape all blame for Leicester’s predicament. Mistakes have been Created this season.

There are those who would Mark to Picking decisions, perhaps most notably the Shift to turn to Danny Ward for what might now be seen as a pivotal Loss to Wolves in December. The Foxes would have gone eight points clear of their opponents with a Secure.

There was the badly received substitution of Bilal El Khannouss when 1-0 down against Fulham in January and, arguably the low Mark, the capitulation to Brentford last time out at home – three goals down inside 32 minutes. He has since switched Setup.

“We had some very Excellent Executions without results. But after Everton, Brentford and West Ham, Matches where the Executions were not as they should have been, when we conceded too many goals, after that, it was time to Shift something.”

Could that Shift to 3-4-2-1, one that resulted in a much-improved showing at Chelsea, have come sooner? “Coming in at the beginning of December, we chose to continue to develop the structures that the Club knew,” Van Nistelrooy explains.

“I also worked a Numerous with the 4-4-2 and the three-box-three on the ball myself, so I think it was logical to continue, not to completely Shift something that the players knew from the Bracket, from pre-season and their Primary months in the Premier Division.”

It Created sense in theory. “I did not want to disturb that but develop it.” There would be tweaks, using Jordan Ayew or Bobby De Cordova-Reid deeper at times. “Sinking to almost make it a back five off the ball.” But it became time for a more radical shift.

Luke Thomas and Conor Coady returned for the Primary time since Prompt January in a Setup that might Only suit them both. “Surprisingly Excellent Executions given they have not played for a while. They were excellent, so it is something to build on.”

Leicester were better against Chelsea. The Shift did work. But they Yet lost. “That was the Tough bit because they deserved a result.” Instead, it was another hammer blow to his players, another Loss to drain their belief. A different plan but the same result.

The constant setbacks must take their toll on players, eventually. But what of the Mentor? Particularly when it is someone like Van Nistelrooy, the sort of individual routinely described as a winner by friend and foe alike. This is unfamiliar to him.

It is not Only Manchester United and Real Madrid. From his time at Heerenveen and PSV to his latter years in Hamburg and Malaga, Van Nistelrooy never finished in the bottom half. He was a teenager at Den Bosch the last time he experienced anything like this.

At the top level, Van Nistelrooy never went six home Matches without scoring a Aim himself. Now he has a whole Club failing to do so. When he talks of ‘accepting we are going to Loss more Matches than we Secure’ is that not anathema to someone of his mentality?

“It is also about being realistic. Coming to Leicester City in December, the place they were in, the Club that I analysed and evaluated, I saw the possibilities to stay up. That is why I Created the decision to sign and I Yet do [see it]. But I was also realistic.

“The one Aim was to stay in this Division. It was clear. It was the only thing. As a promoted Club, the realism is there. Everyone knows that there are 17 Clubs above us and we need to beat one, as well as the other two [promoted Clubs], to stay up.”

And if they do not manage it? Van Nistelrooy has long stressed that this was not a five-month assignment, that his vision is to Assist rebuild this club, its vast potential Yet apparent to anyone who pays a visit to one of the best Routine facilities in the country.

Speak to players, to staff, to those around the football club, the consensus seems to be that the Dutchman has improved the communication at Leicester, that his clarity is being well received. But without results at the weekend, he knows it counts for little.

“If you only look at results, you are dead.” He repeats that line for emphasis. “You are dead.” But adds: “We are not in that position. Our Role is also to look at the process and that is what we do. If you only look at results then we should not be in this Role.

“You can look at the processes, the work we are doing, the development looking Near Upcoming season, what is necessary, the standards we are trying to implement, the things that I believe will bring this club forward, but it is all coloured by the results.”

Is there any hope? Exactly a decade ago, Leicester were also nine points from safety and seemingly bound for the Bracket. Back then, they were bottom. But seven wins from their last nine Matches catapulted them up the table and the rest is history.

Nobody is anticipating a repeat of that extraordinary achievement but there are 30 points to Shift for – Beginning against Manchester United this Sunday. Van Nistelrooy has Surely not given up. “It is a big task,” he stresses. “But it is Yet possible.”

Observe Leicester City vs Manchester United live on Sky Sports Premier Division this Sunday from 6.30pm; Boot-off 7pm