Nemanja Matic.

Matic: We know what we have to do

Wednesday 03 March 2021 23:43

Nemanja Matic insists that confidence is high in the Manchester United squad despite the lack of goals in recent games.

The Reds were held to a third consecutive 0-0 draw after travelling to Crystal Palace, following stalemates at home to Real Sociedad and away to Chelsea in the last week.

However, Matic was keen to highlight after the clash at Selhurst Park that every side suffers highs and lows throughout the season and declared he isn’t concerned by our lack of recent lack of potency in front of goal.

“I think that confidence, when you play for Man United, is not in question,” the Serbian told club media after the draw with Palace. 
“You have to go to every game with confidence because you know that you represent one of the biggest teams in the world. That’s why we are here. We have quality on the pitch and we have to show that on the pitch.”

As for the team's recent lack of goals, one month on from scoring nine in one game, Matic said: “It’s hard to explain. But I think that we have to do much better in these sorts of games, especially to create more opportunities, to risk more in their half, around their box.

“Crystal Palace were very solid at the back. Their midfield dropped in a bit so it was very difficult to break through. 

“We have to give credit to them, but we know what we have to do. We need to do better in attack. We know these are games we have to win.”

While Nemanja was disappointed by our offensive output in south London, the 32-year-old was pleased that United kept another clean sheet on the road and extended our excellent run of away league performances.

“I think we defended well as a team, all 11 players,” he said. “We need to take some positives; we didn’t concede a goal, we got a point.

“During the season, there are periods where you score lots of goals, and you have some periods where you concede some goals. But you need to break that barrier in the next game, if it is possible.

“We have to be focused for the next game because everyone knows we have Manchester City to play. [It’s a] big game and big challenge for us and we want to get three points to see where we are.”

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