Erik ten Hag, Marco Silva, Tom Cairney, Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey give their thoughts on Manchester United versus Fulham.
Erik ten Hag
We have to go from game to game, every game is a final, you will see closer by the end and points will be more expensive and everyone is fighting to get their position in the league table. We are used to it, not only from January are we playing a final but we also have an experience of many players who can deal with pressure situations, so we look forward to it.
Tom Cairney
I feel like they’re a big team that we’ve played our best football against in the last couple of seasons under Marco. Obviously the FA Cup went how it went, I don’t need to say much more, we lost to a late Fernandes goal this season, we lost to a late Garnacho goal last season. Performance-wise, we’ve been very good, but we need to start picking points up against Manchester United if we play like that.
Calvin Bassey
Apart from the technical and tactical side of it, I think it’s just believing in yourself. We know they’ve got a good atmosphere, a big stadium, but we’re there to do a job, so it’s just about focusing. The Gaffer’s talked to us about where we can hurt them, so we’re just going to try and execute the gameplan as good as we can. But we also have to believe that we can go there and have the ball and create opportunities. At the end of the day, it’s about enjoying football, and we all enjoy playing good football and scoring goals and winning, so that’s what we’re going to try and do.
Alex Iwobi
I’m looking forward to it. At Old Trafford the pitch is huge so I need to make sure my lungs are ready for that game! We’ll analyse them, see where we can hurt them, and stop their strengths.
Marco Silva
One thing is clear for me - they are more confident. When you achieve, all the teams, all the players, they need good results to be more confident. They have many, many top players that can decide the game in any moment of the game and it’s going to be really challenging for us. I think we’re going to be ready for it. I assure you that we’re going to be ready for it and we have to go to give them a really competitive climate to fight for the three points.
