Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has urged his side to build the foundation for their UEFA season in Tuesday's Uefa Champions League play-off round first-leg tie against Club Brugge.
Red Devils missed out qualifying for Elite last season for the first tine in 19 Years.However, manager Louis van Gaal delivered a return to Europe's top table during his debut season in charge, but they must negotiate a tricky tie against the Belgian Pro League side to reach the group stages.
And midfielder Carrick is keen to stress the importance of the double header to United's campaign.
"It's going to be a big night on Tuesday. It'll be a big two games in fact - they could help set us up for the season," Carrick told United's official website ahead of the contest at Old Trafford.
"What we have to gain [from winning the tie] is very important, but you approach both matches as any other games.
"We want to win on Tuesday and not concede. Hopefully we can get a good start and take a lead to their place. We'll be ready."
The Old Trafford side have started the PL in unspectacular fashion with 1-0 wins over Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Carrick is hopeful that the team can continue the winning feeling, adding: "It's about building momentum from the off. It puts us in a decent position at this stage even though it’s early.
"It's something to build on and it gives us a base to move forward. We know we can play a lot of better and we have the players to do that. I'm confident that will come.
"Performance-wise it wasn't as good as we'd have liked against Villa, although defensively I thought we did well and they didn't really have many opportunities.
"These games are vital for us to win. Last season we weren't winning them so it's a good sign. There is a lot more to come from us, we expect more and we hope for some better performances."
Van Gaal finally shows up and reveals that Phil Jones is the only injury concern in the squad. Marouane Fellaini could feature with the Belgian currently still suspended in the Premier League after his red card at the end of last season.
David De Gea won't feature against Club Brugge and continues his exile from the team while he gets his head together.
The line "I don't answer that anymore" probably means that Van Gaal is just bored of having to talk about it every week as he's made his very position clear, but if you want to read more into it, like some of kind Film Studies graduate, he might cryptically have revealed the keeper is close to an exit.
Brugge represent an unknown quantity for United, with the two teams having never met in UEFA competition.Head coach Michel Preud'homme – who worked with United midfielder Marouane Fellaini when the pair were at Standard Liege – guided the club to a second-placed finish in the league last term.
Brugge have already beaten Greek side Panathinaikos to reach the play-off round, but have not played in the group stages of the competition since the 2005-06 season.
0 comments:
Post a Comment