Wednesday 8 April 2009

Looking forward to Thursday

Mark Hughes:

"We put in a great performance against Schalke and came away with a valuable win," he says. "That should give us confidence, because this will be a similar situation. We will be up against good-quality opposition in a fantastic stadium, and there will be good support for the home side, which we will have to deal with.

We have a number of injury issues that we hope will resolve themselves, but we are looking forward to it. We want to be in a position after the first leg where we can go on and seal it in the second."

"We're looking to get a good result, and then bring it back home in front of a full house for a great European night in Manchester.

"The stakes are higher now we are at the quarter final stage of the competition, there is a lot of focus on this game and everything becomes higher profile the nearer you get to the final."

Nedum Onuoha:

"Winning the UEFA Cup this year would most definitely be important in terms of attracting new players - just as important as being a rich club.

"There is so much potential here it is incredible and ambitious players will want to be part of something that is growing and because they might become hugely successful winning things.

"I have been here when we have narrowly escaped relegation and it would be a great feeling to still be here when in three or four years time we are considered one of the top teams in the country. That really would be a nice feeling to have - that wouldn't be anything to do with the money earned but being part of a team and a club that has developed.

I'm increasingly nervous, although the news that Ireland and Bridge have travelled lends some hope. What's the worst possible result on which you would settle now? A 1-0 loss? 2-1? 2-0?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

2-1 loss

jackblue said...

7 - 1 win..... believe

Unknown said...

I want some of what Jack's having!!

satis said...

2-0 is a disasterous result in an away leg. It leaves you in the awful position of having to push on for two goals while being terrified of conceding. If the opposition score, you must get four.

2-1 is a hugely better result. That away goal really is important. Even 3-1 is much better than 2-0, so that would be the worst result I think we could survive.

Unknown said...

This isn’t the x-files Jack!!!

Previous away form dictates that we play well against good opposition and poorly against crap teams - particularly in Europe. Lets hope this trend continues tonight. I'm concerned about Garrido and Elano.