CHENNAI : Manchester United travel to Liverpool on Sunday and Jose Mourinho’s men are 16 points behind the league leaders at sixth. This clash has produced some special and ugly moments in the past. Former United players Wes Brown and Dwight Yorke, who were in the city for an Apollo Manchester United Tyres promotional event, spoke about what to expect, Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba among other things. Excerpts...
On the importance of the fixture to both teams
Wes Brown: Liverpool will go in with a lot of confidence. They are playing good football and have some class players. But I think the United-Liverpool game is a special occasion. It was my favourite game growing up. There is a lot of passion and the crowd is very noisy and it’s hard even to speak to players.
And in these games, you get these five-ten minute periods where anything can happen. We know they are playing well at the moment and we somehow have to deal with that. It doesn’t matter how you do it but its one of those games that you have to win.
On whether Mourinho is the right man for the job
Dwight Yorke: Yes. He as been very successful as a manager if you look at his history. Of course it has been a difficult season, there is no two ways about that. We are going through a difficult time and the likes of City and Liverpool have made progress. We are not even half-way through the season and people are writing Manchester United off and I believe that he can turn things around.
On Paul Pogba
Brown: I think he is a great player. We know what a fantastic talent he is and it’s all about about consistency. We as ex-players have been in the dressing room and know what goes on in and around. And I think players need to concentrate more on playing football.
We are now looking at it from the outside and wish we can turn the clock. The opportunities these days, I think the players need to embrace them and do the best they can. Because one day it will all come to an end and here we are talking football when we used to be playing football. So these guys are in a privileged position and they should give their best every single time.
On recent events of racism in English football
Yorke: I have played with a lot of black players in the 80s and 90s. People like Cyrille Regis were leaders in the dressing room. If you listen to those guys, what they had to endure before us coming through, it was difficult. In football, there is all kinds of people playing together and that’s how it should be.
And football has made progress in that regard. But unfortunately, when you thought we have made progress, it seems to have come back. We have to push it away as a unit and try to eradicate it. After all that have been done to stop the issue, it somehow manages to manifest its way back into the sport again. So the only thing we can do is work harder to contain that racism.