Rudi Garcia prepares Roma to play Manchester United, welcoming Ashley Cole and Davide Astori.
These sides will meet in the Guinness International Champions Cup in Denver on Saturday night, hoping to follow up their 1-0 friendly win over Liverpool in Boston, while United crushed LA Galaxy 7-0.
Rudi Garcia prepares Roma to play Manchester United, welcoming Ashley Cole and Davide Astori.
These sides will meet in the Guinness International Champions Cup in Denver on Saturday night, hoping to follow up their 1-0 friendly win over Liverpool in Boston, while United crushed LA Galaxy 7-0.
“Daniele De Rossi and Miralem Pjanic could play in the second half for at most 30 minutes. I don’t want risks,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
Manchester United’s official Instagram account fired up fans by reminding them of the 7-1 Champions League quarter-final victory over Roma in April 2007. Garcia was not impressed.
“It makes no sense. Tomorrow will be a game against a great club and an interesting challenge for us. It’ll be the same thing we saw against Liverpool, as they are starting pre-season earlier and therefore we must hold out physically.
“I like that Louis Van Gaal has changed their style of football and it seems they’ll take the same approach as they did against LA Galaxy. We’ll see if we are able to defend well.
“The first factor I am taking into consideration is fitness, so nobody will play more than an hour. We will see many substitutions, as it was against Liverpool.
“The players are tired, which is normal at this stage. We are not training to play games right now, but to be ready for the start of the Serie A season. We consider the friendlies as the moment of maximum intensity in that training process.”
Garcia is without Gervinho, who is on personal leave, and Astori hasn’t yet joined the club after completing his transfer from Cagliari on Thursday.
“I am happy that Astori is a Roma player. He has a lot of ability, is strong in the air and good in his role. I am sure he’ll settle in very well.
“Ashley Cole is an experienced player, though it’s normal he is struggling physically right now. He always played at a high level of intensity and is now learning Italian, so he can communicate better with his teammates on the field. I like his attitude.”
There are still question marks over Adem Ljajic, whose chances of playing first team football have dropped with the arrival of Juan Manuel Iturbe.
“Adem is important for me and this season there will be room for everyone, seeing as we’ll play nearly 60 games. You can’t carry on with just 11 players. Of course, nobody can be guaranteed they will play every match.”