At this stage of the season hard work is as important to
trophy-chasing sides as it is those battling against relegation.
Fortunately, United have plenty of players who relish that
challenge.
Few enjoy putting in the hard yards quite like Carlos Tevez.
And, as he told United Review, he’ll be doing all he can to deliver
silverware come the end of the season.
United’s 11-game winning run in the league ended with successive
losses in March. Was that tough time?
It’s true we had a difficult period, losing to Liverpool and
Fulham. But when you arrive at a club you make a commitment to be
there throughout the good times and the bad times. In a way, the
dip in form was almost a positive because it gave us the
opportunity to face up to the problem and tackle it head-on. You
need challenges in life – they help you realise just how tough you
are and often bring out a lot of very good qualities. It’s
important you bounce back from disappointment.
The team did that with victories over Aston Villa and
Sunderland, helped largely by goals from Federico Macheda. Do you
have any advice for the teenager?
Well, Federico has done tremendously and he’s very lucky to be
playing for Manchester United at such a young age. I’d tell him to
enjoy every minute of his time on the pitch. That’s the main thing:
you have to love what you do. He’s definitely good enough to play
at the highest level. He’s a big, strong lad who’s also very
skilful. That’s a good combination and I’m confident he has what it
takes to make it to the top.
It’s inevitable there’ll be tired legs at this stage of the
season. Are you confident you and your team-mates can make it over
the line?
You’re right: it’s natural. After all, we play a lot of games and
do a lot of travelling. We all know the games will get tougher as
the season wears on. Also, when other players line up against
Manchester United they put their life on the line, they put
absolutely everything into trying to beat us. We always know we’re
in for a difficult game, but mentally we’re all very positive and
we’re enjoying every minute of the title race. We’re focused 100
per cent and we know exactly what it takes to win trophies.
There are plenty of games against top sides remaining, but is
there extra bite to games against teams battling to avoid
relegation as well?
At this stage of the season it’s always very difficult, and our
opponents will make us work very hard for a win. We’re not just
playing our opponents – we’re almost playing ourselves as well. We
need to be strong mentally, strong physically and be prepared to
combat any other factors like tiredness or nerves.
Do you talk with your friend Javier Mascherano about the title
race?
We do have the odd joke between us but we try not to talk about it
too much. It’s not like he phones me after Liverpool play to tell
me to watch out because they are catching us! We have a lot of
respect for each other and each other’s teams. Having said that,
I’m very confident we’ll win the league this season.
Is that the main focus?
The focus is always the next game, whichever competition that’s in.
We never sit down and have a meeting to discuss what our priorities
are. We don’t say: ‘Well, we’d prefer the league this year.’ We
just go out to win every game and every trophy: that’s always the
plan.
Carlos was speaking in the Portsmouth edition of the matchday
programme.