Patrice Evra: We must play Manchester United way to land double

Patrice Evra

 

Patrice Evra insists the Reds must do it ‘the Manchester United way’ to bounce back from their setback against Arsenal.

Evra and his colleagues slumped from the high of Gelsenkirchen to a low at the Emirates on Sunday.

Now they must reproduce the effort of the semi-final first leg against Schalke to rubber-stamp their Champions League Wembley berth in the return against the Germans on Wednesday.

Then another big push against Chelsea on Sunday at Old Trafford could virtually seal the Premier League title – if the Reds halt the Londoners’ powerful late charge.

Defender Evra says there is only one way United are going to succeed.

“We just have to play the Manchester United way. Our destiny is in our own hands,” said the Frenchman.

“We were too nice at Arsenal. We played very well against Schalke but we didn’t deserve to win on Sunday.

“We didn’t feel we were in trouble. We know Arsenal. They keep possession of the ball but are never dangerous. But normally when we come to the Emirates, we always play with more power and aggression and create more chances than we did.

“That is what I am very disappointed about. They didn’t create a lot of chances in the second-half. Maybe they had two shots. But it wasn’t that. It was the attitude at the beginning of the game. That is why I am very frustrated.

Power

“It is easy to find some excuses. I don’t know what happened. We didn’t play to the Manchester United way. When we don’t play to the Man United way, we don’t deserve anything.

“People think when we played against Schalke the game was easy. We made the game easy because we were ready for the battle, we were ready for the challenge, we played with more aggression, with power, that’s why we made the game easy.

“Maybe we thought at the Emirates it was going to be easy, but we didn’t make the game easy.

“You have to kill that game early, not wait until you concede a goal, to wait until the last 20 minutes to play the Man United way. Of course, we played well the last 20 minutes but its not enough. If we want to win the title it’s not enough.

“However, I’m not worried because we know we didn’t do the things we normally do against Arsenal and I hope it was an accident we didn’t do that. Now we have five games left and we have to win every one because every game is a final.

“It’s a big frustration not to win at Arsenal. But we have the massive semi-final against Schalke and the massive game against Chelsea.

“If you want to win the title you have to beat Chelsea, if you don’t beat them you’re going to be in trouble. We don’t want to be in trouble.

“Let’s put Sunday’s game away and focus on recovering for Schalke but make sure we win against Chelsea. They’re the big rivals and if you don’t win against Chelsea you can be in trouble.”

United were angry a Michael Owen penalty appeal was turned down and Evra had his own shout after a tussle with Theo Walcott.

But instead of savaging referee Chris Foy, he added: “I don’t want to talk about the referee. The problem was Man United not the referee.”