Ryan Giggs admits to a sleepless night ahead of managerial debut

‘Leaving the likes of Juan Mata out of the starting XI was a difficult decision and a position I’ve never been put in before’

Manchester United’s manager Ryan Giggs during the 4-0 win over Norwich City at Old Trafford. Photograph: Nigel Roddis / Reuters
Manchester United’s manager Ryan Giggs during the 4-0 win over Norwich City at Old Trafford. Photograph: Nigel Roddis / Reuters

Ryan Giggs thoroughly enjoyed his first match in charge but said he had a sleepless night as he considered his team selection ahead of Manchester United's 4-0 win over Norwich City.

The interim manager, in charge for at least four games after the sacking of David Moyes, saw Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata bag a brace each against the Canaries.

“To win 4-0 is a dream day for us,” he said afterwards. “Its always nice to end the game like we did. We looked like we were scoring goals, and just the response of the players. The first half we were a little bit slow, but I just reminded them that the tempo needs to be quicker and they reacted well to that.

“I didn’t sleep last night (because of the team selection). Players on the bench, leaving the likes of Juan Mata out of the starting XI was a difficult decision and a position I’ve never been put in before. And it was really tough.

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“I’m interim manager but I’m also one of their team-mates, so it was tough to leave them out.

“But you’ve seen the response of Juan. That’s a true professional, to not moan and not sulk and come on and perform like he did.”

Giggs also insisted he has given no thought to what the future holds and whether he will argue his case to be given the job on a full-time basis.

He said: “It’s not something that I’m thinking of at the moment, just these four games. It’s taken so much out of me this week that I’ve not really had time to look too far into the future. My next job now is to get the players ready for Sunderland.

“All of us have let ourselves down this year. We haven’t played to the ability we’re capable of. Every time you play for United you have to keep to that standard and the standard that we set today was excellent.”

Regarding the rumours Louis Van Gaal is favourite to take charge next season, Giggs added: "The club has just said to me, 'You've got the job for four games' - that's one down and three to go.

“I’ll do the job to the best of my ability and after that we’ll see what happens.”

Defeat leaves Norwich perched precariously above the bottom three, and manager Neil Adams knows his team let themselves down with their second-half display.

He said: “We did really well first half and then five mins before the end they get the penalty and that changes the game. The second half wasn’t good enough. We had a go, we tried, but you go 2-0 down away from home like this — I just felt we needed to be better second half.

“We’ve got two games left now and need to take points from both games. We have to pick ourselves up. The overall performance today wasn’t good enough but we’re still above the line. What we can’t do now is beat ourselves up and think we’re in big trouble. Those two games we’ve got to believe in ourselves and give everything we’ve got.”