Head Coach gives his reaction as United go through in the FA Cup
“It feels magnificent” was Michael Appleton’s reaction as his Oxford side pulled off a superb 3-2 win over Swansea City in the FA Cup at the Kassam Stadium.
“I said in all my interviews; there’s one thing winning it but it’s the way we won it, the style of football and the attacking way we played” Michael told Yellow Player HD. “We passed the ball in the right areas at the right times and it was a great performance.”
The U’s were worthy winners, playing their own brand of exciting football, something which pleased Michael the most:
“The conversation we had before the game was to force our style onto them rather than the other way round and I thought we did that right from the start. We set a high tempo and we got after them because if we let them get hold of the game early on then it was going to be a long afternoon. So we pressed really high, tried to make their keeper kick it, and we got a little bit of success from it.”
Michael has spoken a number of times this season about staying under the radar, but having featured in every national newspaper, and been interviewed on every national breakfast show, he realises that the U’s are not going to be able to hide from the spotlight any more.
“We’re not, but the reality is that of you are successful then that comes with the territory. I think we have a set of players here who are happy at the club and happy with each other; enjoy playing football with each other, enjoy each other’s company and enjoy coming in each day to work hard. I think that’s something that will remain for the rest of the season.”
The inevitable question has to be who Michael fancies in the next round, to be drawn on the One Show on BBC One this evening.
“From a purely selfish point of view it’s Manchester United, having started my career there, but it would be good to get any of the big clubs and for this set of players to go out there, show what they can do, and express themselves once more.”
See the full interview in Yellow Player HD, along with the reaction of Kemar Roofe.