Efter: United – Sunderland

United vann med 2-0 mot Sunderland på annandagen och behåller därmed greppet om ligatiteln. Huvudpersonerna var efter matchen överens om att Uniteds seger var välförtjänt.

KOMMENTARER EFTER MATCHEN
Sir Alex Ferguson var mycket belåten med Uniteds insats, framför allt tycker han att United var fantastiska i den första halvleken. I andra halvlek medger Ferguson att United släppte på gaspedalen med ett öga på tisdagens match mot Birmingham (borta):

”It was a comfortable performance. I think in the first half we were absolutely fantastic, it could have been any score. Second half I thought we maybe put our tools away a bit and saved our legs. We knew the Birmingham game was off and they were very economical in the second half, put it that way. […] I took Anderson and Ryan off. We’ve got a game in two days’ time of course, and with Birmingham not having played they’ll be nice and fresh.”

Ferguson påpekade också att Uniteds form är bra och framhöll lagets defensiv:

”We’re coming to good form. In the last few weeks we’ve played some very good stuff and they’re getting that consistency – particularly defending. We’re really looking solid at the back and these are good signs for us, and it’s an important time to get that.”

Sunderlands manager Steve Bruce kunde inte göra mycket annat än att hålla upp händerna och erkänna sig besegrad av ett bättre lag:

”Manchester United were very impressive and sometimes you have to hold your hands up. It’s tough to come here with a full-strength team, let alone one with six or seven missing. Maybe I was a bit naïve too, but in the first half you had to marvel at the quality of their football because we couldn’t get anywhere near them.”

Patrice Evra var framför allt nöjd med Uniteds första halvtimme och framhöll lagets passningsspel. Med bara 1-0 i paus var det emellertid ett farligt läge och Evra pekade på vikten av att vara fokuserad. Han var också nöjd med lagets försvarsspel:

”I think we did a great job in the first half hour. We pressed the ball very well and there was some nice play. We scored the early goal, I think that’s always the target. We need to score the early goal to kill the game early, because after that they can have no confidence and can cause you no trouble. The football was great, but it was a dangerous game. At half-time everyone kept saying we needed to keep focus, because when you play like this and don’t score, sometimes you can concede silly goals. But we defended well again but I was a bit disappointed to come back into the dressing room at half-time just one-nil up. But in the end we did our job very well.”

Evra var också glad att Dimitar Berbatov fick göra två mål och avslöjade samtidigt att bugaren hade bränt chanser på träningarna inför matchen:

”I’m very happy with Dimitar. We argued a little bit in training because he was missing the goals, I kept moaning at him when he missed, and he said: ’Don’t worry, I’ll score in the game.’ And he showed me that and scored two goals!”

ÖVRIGT
Darren Fletcher missade matchen p.g.a. sjukdom medan Nani missade matchen p.g.a. en skada. Båda förväntas dock vara tillbaka i spel till bortamatchen mot Birmingham.

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