TOURNAMENT – Champions League

MATCH – Olympiakos (Home) at Old Trafford

DATE & TIME – 19th March 2014, 19:45 GMT (01:15 IST, 20th March 2014)

Pre-Match Press Conference Transcript of David Moyes

Q. David, hello. The mood looked pretty good in training this morning. But, Wayne Rooney suggested after that defeat against Liverpool that it was the worst performance in his ten years at Old Trafford. So, has it been difficult to lift the players back up again?

Moyes: Well, I think when you lose in the fashion we did, and obviously, to one of our biggest rivals, there’s always a lot of disappointment. We knew it was a big week – we had Liverpool and now we have got Olympiakos in the Champions League. But, as soon as it was over, we’ve concentrated on this game. And, you know, we told the players that on Monday morning when we got them back in; the only thing that matters now is this game, and our focus is now on that – on the Olympiakos game.

Q. There’s a great tradition of European success here at Old Trafford, can you use that to inspire the players to try and turn this tie around, do you think?

Moyes: We will try and do that. I think, I was looking back, its only twice Manchester United have done it. I think 1984 was the recent one, against Barcelona. I think Robbo got two goals, by all accounts, that night. So, its not something that’s happened a lot, but its something that we have to try and make happen.

Q. There’s a few times that you see encouraging signs and you see improvement. I have to say that, I find it difficult to see that improvement on the field at the moment. What is it that makes you think that it will improve, and that your position will look more secure over the next few weeks?

Moyes: Well, I think that I see the players everyday; I get the chance to work with them everyday. The qualities they show me – I think they know they can play better – I don’t think any of them are questioning that. But, I get buoyed from the players – I see what they can do. And, hopefully they can show it – agreed, they have not showed it as often as we’ve liked. But, we’ll try and make that happen tomorrow night.

Q. David, you can overstate the importance of matches sometimes, but, to what extent do you think your future depends on the outcome of this match?

Moyes: My future has not changed one bit – I got a great job, I know exactly the direction I want to go in. Its not been the season we’d hoped we would’ve had at this present time, but, I’ve got ideas of what I want to do, where to put players when the time is right. But the most important thing just now is to get the Olympiakos game played. Hopefully get through in that competition. If we can, it would be a massive lift for us. But, we know we’ve got ourselves in a poor position being 2-0 down. But we’ve got a lot of belief, and we’ve got to try and make it show, and play well in the game.

Q. David, do you think one of the big things here is, whether you go through tomorrow or go out tomorrow, is that these players play like you know they can? They put on a performance for the crowd who have backed them all season.

Moyes: Yeah, I think the support inside Old Trafford has been phenomenal, it really has been. I think the players will tell you that it was the first thing I mentioned to them near enough after the game was, you know, we need to start giving something back now, we need to start performing together – me, the team – we need to make sure we work together to get a performance and a night to be remembered. And we’ll do everything we possibly can to make that happen, we’ll leave nothing behind on the night hopefully and we’ll try to make sure we somehow go through to the next round.

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