David Moyes believes that Manchester United will continue to put pressure on the teams above them despite recording a third consecutive league match without a win.
United’s 0-0 stalemate away at Arsenal last night leaves them 11 points adrift of the Champions League spots and three behind nearest rivals Everton, who have a game in hand.
However, the Scot remains bullish in the face of such a daunting task and trusts his players’ collective experience to overhaul the ever-increasing gap.
“All I can do – and I keep saying it – is we will try and win the next game and pick it up,” he said.
“They are a great group of players and a very experienced group of players. They have been winners, all of them.
“If there is one club in history who have been great at winning games in the second half of the season and putting pressure on the teams above it is Manchester United. We will continue to try and do that and make it work.”
Moyes also cited the players’ taste for success as a key motivational factor in carrying on the fight for the remainder of the campaign.
“I believe the desire is still there in the squad,” he said.
“They all have medals, and when you have won you want to win more. They are all still hungry and determined to be successful.
“I see them and they are great lads. They are fantastic with their training and their commitment is first class.”
It was the fifth Premier League game this season in which the Reds have failed to score, with Robin van Persie being unusually wasteful in front of goal – though the Dutchman was unlucky to have a late header tipped onto the bar.
Having pointed to lack of good fortune as an aspect of United’s recent troubles in yesterday’s press conference, while praising his team’s performance at the Emirates, Moyes acknowledged that they had opportunities to seal the victory.
“I thought we did a lot of good things in the game,” he said. “We had good shape, and were nice and compact. We had some good moments in the game.
“I thought whoever would have got the first goal it would have been important and we had a great opportunity to get that.
“On another night Robin might have had a hat-trick. He had three good chances.”
The Red Devils have now dropped 36 points in the league this season – their worst campaign since the Premier League’s inception.
However, despite the further set-back in their pursuit of fourth-place, the United helmsman insisted he was remaining positive about the result.
“Arsenal is a hard place to come and they have been having a great season,” he said. “If you had told me at the start of the season we would take four points off Arsenal I wouldn’t have been too disappointed.”
Having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Swansea in January, United will now travel to Dubai for a week-long training camp before returning to Premier League action against Crystal Palace on February 22.
Picture courtesy of Action Images / Carl Recine, with thanks
