00:00 Hi, Chris, welcome back.
00:02 - How are you? - I'm very good, thank you.
00:04 We'll start with Keith Darnley, Sky Sports.
00:14 How proud are you of that performance, given the amount of changes you made,
00:18 the guys on your team, you haven't had in a long time,
00:21 and the way it's all handled?
00:23 Yeah, it was a massive performance from the players, I can't credit them enough, really.
00:27 Some great stories, I think, in the game, to come out of the game from our perspective,
00:32 only Matt Target's the negative, that was a huge blow for us really early in the game,
00:36 but even more credit to the players for the response after that moment.
00:41 And some giant performances from the players.
00:43 More so than your two centre-backs, obviously Paul Dermott got a lot of plaudits
00:47 for his performance against Man City, coming in from the goal,
00:50 Emil Krastor this time.
00:52 Yeah, what a story really for both of them,
00:54 Emil 14 months out, playing in a position he hasn't played in an awful lot,
00:59 I thought he was superb tonight.
01:01 He used the ball really well, I thought his athleticism was key,
01:05 looked comfortable, and together with Paul I thought they defended really well
01:09 against top-quality players as well, so it certainly wasn't an easy game for us.
01:13 You were asked a question at the news conference yesterday about Newcastle's record,
01:17 you're only one win in two wins in the last ten years,
01:22 and I think you've never won here, so a few records broken this evening.
01:27 Yeah, I've always found it a difficult ground,
01:30 and Newcastle the same in recent times,
01:32 so again another thing to be really proud of and really pleased with,
01:37 the commitment shown by everybody, not just the start at 11,
01:41 it was a real squad effort today.
01:43 I thought we scored some great goals too, I thought the quality of the goals
01:46 was a real highlight for us, and our defending all through the game was at the highest level.
01:50 Jordan Cronin then Craig Foote.
01:52 Just a word for your two full-backs, obviously assist by Tino and Luis,
01:56 how pleased are you for them, it was a long time since you got an opportunity?
02:00 Yeah, I thought they both played really, really well today,
02:04 I thought they both showed their qualities,
02:06 Luis was very composed on the ball, under pressure, and played some lovely passes in the first half,
02:10 capped off with his goal which was an unbelievable strike,
02:13 Tino's probably standout moment was the assist for the goal,
02:16 but his all-round performance again was at the highest level,
02:18 so they're two outstanding prospects for us.
02:20 Was that Jordan in the back with his best today?
02:22 He mentioned he's had a sort of frustrated start to the season,
02:24 stop-start was, I think, his best?
02:26 Yeah, possibly.
02:28 I think he's had a period of time out and he's just finding his rhythm again,
02:33 his best rhythm, he's such an important player for us,
02:35 he was due to start wide today and then with Matt's injury he came inside
02:40 and, yeah, he performed really well.
02:42 Lee Ryder at the back, sorry, Craig and Lee.
02:44 Did Luis and Tino Schurter, why did they make an impact now,
02:48 why they're already an impact on this season as young as they are?
02:50 Yeah, of course, they were signed to push the group, to help our squad, to help our team,
02:58 you need good players and they are both very, very good players.
03:02 Now the form of Kieran and Dan has been really strong as well,
03:05 so it's that competition that will bring out the best in everybody.
03:08 But they're very important players for the here and now.
03:10 And where on Joe were they this morning?
03:12 Yeah, I thought Joe was outstanding today,
03:14 he's a goal-scoring midfielder, he's got those athletic qualities that we need.
03:17 You can see how many times he ran forward today,
03:19 he was a real threat in the game, took his goal brilliantly,
03:22 which was a big moment in the match, we needed that third goal.
03:25 So, delighted with Joe.
03:26 Lee Ryder.
03:27 Eddie, you've obviously been here for a while now,
03:31 you've got time to understand that there is a bit of rivalry between Man U and Newcastle,
03:36 what happened in the 90s with Keegan the other day,
03:39 were you pleased with the fans that big moment?
03:43 Well, it means everything to us and hopefully it means everything to them.
03:46 You can see the reaction at the end, how big it was,
03:49 and the connection between us and the supporters.
03:51 I think they knew today that we were in a tough moment,
03:54 we were making changes to the team, we've got a lot of injuries.
03:57 But that sometimes can elevate your unity,
04:00 and that for me was so important that we did,
04:03 because if we didn't have that aspect to our game today,
04:06 we would have found it very difficult.
04:07 Players like Matt Ritchie again highlight that unity, really,
04:10 and his performance today was, again, of the highest level.
04:13 After half-time, you've been here before,
04:16 when you showed a look, you kind of went into a defensive mentality,
04:20 in fear of losing you, did you tell them to keep going?
04:24 The message at half-time is to be positive and to be brave,
04:27 and continue to do the things that brought us success in the first half.
04:30 I've seen many games like you have here,
04:32 where the Manchester United crowd win them the game late in the match,
04:37 and we were determined to try and still be positive and play our normal game.
04:41 Just on the target, have you got any idea,
04:46 it looked quite serious when it was coming off?
04:49 I've got no idea why it happened or how it happened, really.
04:52 It's bizarre, it's early in the game, he's obviously not fatigued at that moment,
04:56 he stretched his leg up to tackle,
04:59 and the minute he hit the ground he was waving to us on the side,
05:03 I knew he was in trouble.
05:05 Looks like a hamstring, which would be a huge blow.
05:07 Obviously there's a degree of hamstring, but that did look quite serious.
05:13 Yeah, the only hope for me was that he wasn't really running at the time,
05:16 sometimes they're the worst ones when you're in an explosive action,
05:19 but he was in pain and he's struggling to walk now, so it doesn't look good.
05:24 Chris Ross?
05:26 Eddie, you said before the game that you had to deliberate a lot
05:29 about the team you were going to select because of how stretched your squad is,
05:32 in terms of your career so far, how difficult was the team selection for tonight,
05:37 given everything else that's going on and given how stretched your squad is right now?
05:41 Yeah, I think we debated it probably for a couple of days.
05:45 But we kept reverting back to the same end point,
05:49 which means it was pretty clear what we needed to do,
05:52 we needed to try and rest players.
05:54 But also we needed to not have our players not do anything for a week either,
06:00 so almost shutting a player down for a week isn't a good idea,
06:03 and they've got to then elevate their physical level again on the Saturday.
06:06 So it was a mix, we wanted to give some players some minutes, but shortened minutes,
06:10 and some of the subs were pre-set before the game,
06:13 like Anthony Gordon, Joe Willock, we needed to get them off the pitch.
06:16 So, yeah, it's going to be a key thing for us, managing minutes
06:19 and trying to keep the squad as strong as possible.
06:23 You're in the quarter-finals of this competition now,
06:25 you got to the final last season, you've obviously got the Champions League
06:28 and other things to consider, but how much ambition do you have to try and go one further?
06:32 Well, we're determined to try and do well in every game,
06:34 and I think that's genuinely, internally, that's how we're looking at it,
06:38 so we prepared as well as we could for today,
06:40 we picked the team that we felt could win,
06:42 and now we're trying to do the same for Arsenal,
06:44 and it's doing that on a consistent basis, we are determined to try and achieve.
06:48 OK, Dominic, then across to Joel.
06:50 In your programme notes tonight, Eric Ten Hag talked about how pleased he was with Manchester United's game management in the final last year,
06:57 how pleasing was that aspect for you tonight?
07:00 Yeah, I don't think we had to manage the game in any way, really,
07:06 I think we were determined not to alter our approach, as I said, at half-time,
07:10 so sometimes if you go into that phase of play, you can lose all rhythm in your performance,
07:16 so we didn't want to do that, we felt we were OK as we were,
07:20 and better when we're positive, I've always felt that way.
07:23 I don't like to see us protect leads or do something that goes against our natural instincts.
07:30 Joel?
07:31 You now have 14 different scorers this season, how important is that for you,
07:35 that you're not overly relying on Calum Wilson or these guys to get the goals,
07:38 especially considering their respective injury records?
07:40 Yeah, I think that's the aim, I think you want goals from every department of the team,
07:45 today we had different goal scorers, great to see.
07:50 Different threats as well, different types of goals,
07:53 so I thought we looked a threat in the game, although we didn't have an abundance of goal-mouth action,
07:58 we looked a threat every time we broke forward.
08:00 Good speed in the team tonight, that's hugely important away from home as well, so really pleased.
08:05 Kieran?
08:13 As I said earlier, the intention was to give minutes to players,
08:17 to use almost as their training session for this week,
08:22 because shutting a player down, it might seem like a great idea,
08:25 but that's a recipe for disaster as well.
08:28 We wanted to bring the whole squad who was fit, and we did that,
08:32 and it was about trying to get the minutes.
08:34 Thank you, everybody.
08:41 Thanks very much.
08:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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