You mentioned wanting to be back in Europe. This is one of the few weeks where you’ve got two games in a few days, quick turnaround. Is this part of stress-testing the squad and seeing how they react after many weeks with no midweek games, playing two games against teams that are in Europe?
“In some ways, yeah. We had the West Ham midweek game, which feels a long time ago now but probably wasn’t that long ago. This is a squad and a group of players over their careers the boys are used to it, it is not something that all of a sudden is really new. It feels fresh because we haven’t had much but it is not really such a big deal. We’re in good shape and the boys have got enough experience and know what to bring from game to game. If you’ve got them playing close together, you have to be ready for the next one.
I just want to ask you about Luke Shaw. Started every game for United this season. He’s had his injury issues in the past. How impressed have you been with him, that he’s someone you can now rely on every single match to play as long as you need him?
“He is in a good place Luke, experience helps managing a load, managing your body and he has put a good run of games together. I think that in itself is probably underestimated you know and game to game and be fit for the next game but actually to be able to do that over a long period of time sometimes takes some adjusting. He has been good for a long time Luke and especially this season to have that consistency shows how much experience has helped him.”
I’d like to ask about Lisandro Martinez. He dropped out of the game against Everton due to some sort of injury. What can you tell us about his current health and how does the team respond when you don’t have a player of his talent?
“The boys responded well. They kept a clean sheet so they responded well, Leny [Yoro] came in and did incredibly well. With Licha it’s a small issue, so he’s getting closer, he won’t be out for very long so we’ll just monitor him over the next day, two, three, four days and see when he can come back but he is not far away.”
