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

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

Van Nistelrooy was managing United for the reverse fixture, winning the last of his four games as interim boss. He departed with the best win 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 challenge," Van Nistelrooy tells VidSport Live. "You can be on the beach, yes. Or you can be in football, in the Premier League. You can be managing Leicester. That is a great challenge."

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

"Your playing days are one thing, coaching and managing is another. If you are open to developing yourself on a daily basis, you can do it in this job. That is my target. I love this game. I love being a part of a club like Leicester in the best league 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 challenge. It is priceless how much you can learn and develop yourself. To prepare my team 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 made this season.

There are those who would point to selection decisions, perhaps most notably the move to turn to Danny Ward for what might now be seen as a pivotal defeat to Wolves in December. The Foxes would have gone eight points clear of their opponents with a win.

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

"We had some very good performances without results. But after Everton, Brentford and West Ham, games where the performances were not as they should have been, when we conceded too many goals, after that, it was time to change something."

Could that change 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 team knew," Van Nistelrooy explains.

"I also worked a lot 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 change something that the players knew from the Championship, from pre-season and their first months in the Premier League."

It made 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. "Dropping 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 first time since early January in a formation that might just suit them both. "Surprisingly good performances given they have not played for a while. They were excellent, so it is something to build on."

Leicester were better against Chelsea. The change did work. But they still lost. "That was the hard bit because they deserved a result." Instead, it was another hammer blow to his players, another defeat 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 coach? 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 just 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 games without scoring a goal himself. Now he has a whole team failing to do so. When he talks of 'accepting we are going to lose more games than we win' 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 squad that I analysed and evaluated, I saw the possibilities to stay up. That is why I made the decision to sign and I still do [see it]. But I was also realistic.

"The one goal was to stay in this league. It was clear. It was the only thing. As a promoted team, the realism is there. Everyone knows that there are 17 teams above us and we need to beat one, as well as the other two [promoted teams], 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 help rebuild this club, its vast potential still apparent to anyone who pays a visit to one of the best training 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 job 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 job.

"You can look at the processes, the work we are doing, the development looking towards next 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 Championship. Back then, they were bottom. But seven wins from their last nine games 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 play for - starting against Manchester United this Sunday. Van Nistelrooy has certainly not given up. "It is a big task," he stresses. "But it is still possible."

Watch Leicester City vs Manchester United live on VidSport Live Premier League this Sunday from 6.30pm; kick-off 7pm