TOURNAMENT – Barclays Premier League

MATCH – Newcastle United (Away) at St. James’ Park (Sports Direct Arena)

DATE & TIME – 5th April 2014, 14:00 GMT (19:30 IST)

Pre-Match Press Conference Transcript of David Moyes

Q. How big a statement, or even a step forward, was it against the European Champions on Tuesday?

Moyes: Well, it was a terrific performance by the players and an all-round really good night at Old Trafford. It was a special night as far as I’m concerned, maybe one of the best ever games I’ve ever been involved in in football because of the atmosphere, because of the crowd, because of the standard of the opposition, and more importantly because of the performance that the players put in. I thought that the players played really well. So, it was a good night – a bit disappointed, as I said after the game, with the result, but overall, there were a lot of good things to take from it.

Q. So when the character of this club is questioned, it can still come back, bearing in mind Manchester City and Liverpool?

Moyes: I don’t think you can ever question the character of Manchester United – its there. Its ingrained in the football club. And I believe that it’s showed its strength and it’s needed to show it at times this year. But, everybody within the club has shown that, and I thought the atmosphere of the crowd at the game was magnificent, it really was.

Q. You paid tribute to the fans on a lot of occasions when they supported you, but that was something different, that was a step up, wasn’t it, on Tuesday?

Moyes: Yeah, but I thought that was the crowd coming to see the final top 8 teams in the Champions League. They came to see the holders of the competition from the year before, they’ve had many a big game against Bayern Munich in the years gone by, so I think the supporters came there really supporting, knowing they’ve been involved in some immense games against Munich in the past and in a lot of ways, hopefully they got that in the game.

Q. The players do feed off of that, don’t they? I mean the first half, in a lot of situations, they were almost the 12th man for the team, weren’t they?

Moyes: Yeah. It was obviously going to be the case. It was going to be a tough night for us, but I think the crowed were buoyed by the commitment the players showed and tactically, we had to be good on the night because we were playing against a really good team. And, I think most people inside the ground understood what was required in the game, and I think they appreciated the efforts of the players.

Q. The stats even come into it – the people said it the next morning, they didn’t expect you to get a result, but you got a result. And they said, okay 26% possession but you’ve still got a tie.

Moyes: Yeah, that’s right. And if you said to me before the game, what would be a good result? I didn’t want to concede a goal, 0-0 might have been better than one each, but overall, it was always going to be… Bayern are a good side, they keep a lot of possession, we’re well aware. That’s what we knew exactly, and that’s why on the night, we got quite a few things right.

Q. But is the style of what you’re doing an evolution? Bearing in mind that there’s a transfer window coming in the summer, and you’re still probably getting to know a few of the players.

Moyes: Yeah, I think Bayern, being European champions and with their style, ideally you’d want to play as close to that style as you can get. But to do that, I mean they’ve got some magnificent players that they’ve had at the club for so long. A lot of German players who’ve been brought up through their system, so I really think they’ve got an awful lot in place there, and they’ve built on it over recent years.

Some Quotes from the Manchester United Twitter Stream

Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling are “on their way back” to fitness. David Moyes: “We’ve missed them. We want their youth & enthusiasm.” #mufc — Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 4, 2014

Moyes on tomorrow’s match: “We need to balance things correctly but the focus is Newcastle. The next game is the most important one.” #mufc — Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 4, 2014

Ryan Giggs picked up “a wee bit of an injury” against Bayern but Moyes says @AlexButtner_28 is “not as bad as when he first came off.” #mufc — Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 4, 2014

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