Manchester United coach Adam Lawrence: "It's been amazing"

Adam, how has your time been at the Otten Innovation Cup so far?
'It's been fantastic. First of all, the welcome from everybody at the club and everybody connected to the tournament has been amazing. We're really proud and privileged to be able to participate at this level of tournament in terms of, obviously, PSV as hosts, and then teams across Europe and the professional game and the world in terms of the level to allow us to perform and test ourselves in, so it's been an amazing experience, and the players have really enjoyed it.'

Manchester United were also here in Eindhoven last year, what's changed in your side since then?
'I think in terms of what was nice about this year is myself and Colin, who work with the boys, we've obviously come back as well, so it’s our second time at the tournament, and we've also got a core of players that came to the tournament last year, so obviously they had that experience of taking part in it, and there's been some things that we've introduced in terms of training, linked to the tournament, and what we've done here in Eindhoven at the Otten Innovation Cup we've taken back home and actually worked on; so things like rolling the ball in from the sides to basically encourage the ball to be in play, and getting more individual actions from players in training and games, so yeah, we've done a bit more preparation and we're probably further ahead than we were going into it last year. But naturally every game gives you different challenges and different oppositions. So it's been a nice balance.'

And are you finding that new form of training and style of play is having an impact in your league games as well?
'I think players, when you're playing the game, ultimately, they want the ball to be on the pitch don't they, and they want to be, obviously, playing and performing. Players enjoy it more when it's like that, as opposed to the ball being off the pitch for too long, or teams time wasting, or taking long to get the ball back into play. So definitely, that's something we try to encourage in training sessions, games, etc, and I think the tournament's unique like that, so to be able to come here and experience those different rules within the game is challenging, but in a good way, and gets the players to think in a different way as well. So, yeah, definitely good.'

One of the rule changes here at the Otten Innovation Cup is the 4 minute sin bin when a player gets a yellow card. How do you find that working out for you as a manager - Is it something you're able to cope with quite quickly in terms of changing the team style, because it all happens quite quickly during the match…
'Yeah, it definitely challenges a coach when that happens, if it's for your team, in terms of going a player down, but it's also good for the players to problem solve and be able to recognise what might be needed in that moment, because, like you say, it happens quite quickly. And then when you've got that extra man in terms of advantage, how you make the best use of that and use the spaces that you've got available in the extra player. So that's good. Also with the changes, they can ebb and flow within the game as well, I think yesterday (Saturday) we had a game where we had the advantage for a minute, but then we had a sin bin, so then we had to react to that, and so I think it does educate and teach players good discipline in terms of kicking the ball away, fouling when they shouldn't, those little areas; so a good education for the players in terms of taking advantage of those situations, but also being challenged by them.'

Jacob, obviously you're on the pitch and having to deal with sin bins and players going off in the game. Do you find the flow of the match changes quite a lot when it happens?
'Yeah, I think obviously there's advantages and disadvantages to it, because obviously, if you're the one with 10 men, you've got to change and adapt. So whether you've got to do a bit more running, or you've got to be a bit safer on the ball just to try and make the time go down, and the in the same way if you’re other side, if you're playing against 10 men, you've got to try and take advantage of it, because four minutes is a long time in football, so whether you need to try and get a goal back, or if, if you are in the lead, you just keep control and get the game on your terms.'

Are you finding the kick in, instead of the traditional throw in, is working for you?
'Yeah, I think especially with the style of football we play, obviously we like to have a lot of possession of the ball and get good, quick attacks, so I think it definitely helps us as a team. You’ve got to stay on it all the time, you can't switch off - that's with attacking and defending - so I think it's good because it's what we've gotten used to going into the season.'

You've played teams from different parts of the world here in Eindhoven. Is there anything that you've learned from them?
'Yeah, I think obviously we play a lot of games in England, and I think it's nice to come here and play against such big European teams to see where we as a team are at and where we are individually, compared to these big teams like PSV out here. It's also nice to watch the other teams as well to see if you can take other bits from their game, so yeah, I think everyone can benefit from it.'

Adam, just thinking outside the box, are there any rules you would like to see implemented at this tournament in the future?
'I think just to confirm, in terms of the rules that have been introduced, as coaches we’re advocates for the ball being in play, encouraging more possession and getting control of the game, as opposed to maybe the ball being in the air or the ball being out of control. So for us it we fully embrace coming here in terms of those rule changes, and we enjoy the challenges that they bring as well.'

Finally, last year you brought striker Ethan Wheatley along with you, and he ended up as the top scorer of the competition. You must be very proud to see how far he's come along now he’s playing with the first team?
'Yes, so Ethan in particular, had a really successful season last year. I think this tournament, particularly in preseason, and his individual program and what he was exposed to, and then coming here and playing in this type of tournament was really, really good for him, and he made some really good progress throughout the year. I would say that this tournament definitely played a big part in terms of his preseason period and set him up really good for the season, and gave him that platform to then progress and develop. But naturally, as coaches, you're really proud when you see the players develop, and they really buy into their program and maximize what they're doing at the club, and obviously he's on a journey, but he's doing really well with that and everyone's really proud at the club of him.'