Manchester United duo Manchester United duo Morgan Schneiderlin and Phil Jones have urged the Red Devils to beat Middlesbrough at Old Trafford tonight and win the Capital One Cup.
United take on the high-flying Championship side this evening and they will be aware of the threat they possess on the counter-attack.
Middlesbrough went close to coming up to the Premier League last season and they are expected to do so this year under Spanish coach Aitor Karanka. The former Jose Mourinho apprentice is a well regarded coach in football and has done well since taking charge of the North-West outfit.
They signed Stewart Downing in the summer and have a number of good players in their ranks including Albert Adomah and David Nugent. They are all likely to be on show this evening and that will be enough threat in attack to make United cautious throughout the game. United do have quality of their own though and many of those players should be on show tonight. Michael Carrick will return along with Memphis Depay who cost over £20million from PSV Eindhoven.
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And one player who could feature is Schneiderlin who has been an important player for United this season. The midfielder has been the main anchorman in the side and could be rested. However, he has urged the side to win tonight and try and go on to lift the trophy.
"“The cup is something that allows every player to get an opportunity,” Schneiderlin told MUTV. “I know the manager likes to change some players and it’s very important because we are a group and everyone plays a part and does their best. We want to win this cup.“Man United should try to win everything and that’s what we’re aiming to do. You saw when we played Ipswich that we were very serious about the competition and we want to carry that on against Middlesbrough, who are a good team. They were close to being back in the Premier League last season so it will be a hard game and we have prepared as seriously as possible.”"
United have a good chance to lift silverware this season with Chelsea and Arsenal both losing last night. The Blues lost to Stoke City on penalties while Arsenal were thrashed by Sheffield Wednesday in a massive upset.
And that should be enough to make United play at their best with another upset on the cards if they don’t play well. And Jones, who is a regular in central defence at the moment, has made it clear that the players know of Middlesbrough threat.
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"“Middlesbrough are a good Championship team, they have played well this season and it will be a different game for us,” added the defender.“They’re coming to Old Trafford, playing under the floodlights and it’s a massive game for them. Some players have probably never played at Old Trafford so that’s the incentive they have.“We need to make sure we turn up and do our job. Just because they’re in the Championship doesn’t mean we’re going to win the game; we need to play well and hopefully we can win it because this is a competition we want to do well in.”"
The competition has been given a boost with the exits of Arsenal and Chelsea last night and Van Gaal will see this as an opportunity for a side that has not lifted a trophy in the last two seasons.
United’s last success came under Sir Alex Ferguson when they landed their 20th league title courtesy of Robin van Persie, with the Dutchman netting over 30 goals in all competitions.