The Carabao Cup Final 2023 is right around the corner and here’s what the Manchester United and Newcastle United bosses had to say ahead of Sunday…
Erik ten Hag
On the Final…
“You see the direction that we have to follow that line to improve, to beat the best. It is a great opportunity to get the silverware in. It’s about glory and honour in football. We deserve to play the final and ahve a great opportunity to win the cup. We are really waiting for it. We are doing everything to give fans their honour.
“It’s a great opportunity to get the silverware in, football is all about glory and honour. We deserve to play in the Final and we have a great chance to win the cup. The fans are waiting for it, so we’ll do everything we can.”
On competing in four different tournaments…
“It’s not succes but the road to success. Success is trophies. We have a squad we use and when we play four compweitions we need a squad. We can choose formations that we think are most effective Sunday is a challlenge again, it’s totally different but it’s great to play them.”
On Marcus Rashford’s availability…
“I don’t know. Players are coming in now and we have to do medical investigations. We did some yesterday but it was so soon after the game, so most of the time you can’t say. You have to wait for the 100% medical diagnosis.”
On Newcastle United…
“They’re a great team with a clear philosophy about how they want to play the game. The key is intensity to why they’ve done well. They’re an annoying team to play against, so we have to find a way to win. We have to make sure that we focus on our game.”
Eddie Howe
On the absence of Nick Pope…
“I’m feeling disappointed for Nick – that was my whole emotion after thr game. He’s someone who has given his all for the team and been outstanding this year so I felt for him. I’m also pleased for another goalkeeper who gets an opportunity. We’ve have to be positive about our situation. We lose Nick but we still believe in the group that we have.”
On Newcastle’s silverware drought…
“In the early rounds, we used that. As it gets closer to the end of the competition, we’ve tried to go the other way and take the pressure off the players. It’s a very delicate balance in terms of how you prepare psychologically for these games.
“I always believe that the history, from my side, is respected. For me, we’re trying to create new history with a new team. We’re determined to try and do that and create some great memories for our amazing supporters.”
On the opposition…
“We’re playing a team very much in form. They’ve got some very good players and the manager has done a brilliant job in building momentum and turning the team around from a difficult place. We know we’re going to have to be at our very best and embrace the occasion and hit our top levels to win.”
On the occasion…
“It’s been a difficult few weeks for us because all the talk has been about it, even though it’s been two or three games down the line for us. As much as we’ve tried to focus what lay ahead, naturally, the players I’ve spoken to, it’s very much in your eyeline. We’re desperate to play and do well and do the Club proud.”
On cup competitions…
“We wanted to take all the cup competitions seriously. We’ve had success in this one but we didn’t in the FA Cup. I believed that the squad was good enough to mount a challenge to potentially win a competition. We’ve got this far – we’ve got to the Final – which is a great step but we’d love to go one step further and actually claim the silverware.”