McMahon relishing United test
James Carroll, 13th Apr 2010 - LiverpoolFC.tv
John McMahon believes Liverpool Reserves can stake a claim for title glory by beating Manchester United tonight - a game you can watch live online from 6.55pm.
The Reds are currently six points behind table toppers United in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North, though they do have two games on their Old Trafford rivals.
McMahon acknowledges the clash at Altrincham FC could go a long way to deciding the outcome of the championship, and has called on his contingent to make a bold statement in the quest for success by recording a third victory of the campaign over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men.
"If we're going to do anything in the league with regards to winning the title, there's only one result we can go for and that's the win," he told Liverpoolfc.tv.
"But as I always stress, it's about development and progression of players and tonight will be a good test of how far the young lads have come.
"It's not about getting one over on United, it's about us doing the right things, believing in ourselves and the way we set things up, having confidence to go an express ourselves and, when we do recover the ball, how we can go and hurt them."
McMahon is well aware his second-string face arguably their most difficult challenge of their campaign, particularly given the first-team experience in United's ranks.
However, he insists he will send his troops out with a positive mentality.
"It certainly is (going to be difficult), especially with the squad we've got at the moment as we're really down on numbers, but we'll give it our best shot," said McMahon.
"The strength and depth of the squad United have is extensive and they can call on a number of players. Whatever side they put out, they're going to be formidable.
"We will be organised, work hard, difficult to break down and look to play when we have the ball."
The Reserves slipped to a disappointing 3-2 defeat at Wigan Athletic last time out, spurning the chance to go joint-top of the table - and McMahon is urging his players to bounce back in the best possible fashion.
"We stopped playing and doing the right things," he said. "We need to get back to doing what we do well, which is staying together and showing good movement as a team and not as individuals, which we tended to do (at Wigan) and lost our concentration and focus.
"We were organised in the first half at Wigan but we were very disappointing in the second half, so we're going to look at why it went wrong and try to solve those problems on the pitch tonight."
James Carroll, 13th Apr 2010 - LiverpoolFC.tv
John McMahon believes Liverpool Reserves can stake a claim for title glory by beating Manchester United tonight - a game you can watch live online from 6.55pm.
The Reds are currently six points behind table toppers United in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North, though they do have two games on their Old Trafford rivals.
McMahon acknowledges the clash at Altrincham FC could go a long way to deciding the outcome of the championship, and has called on his contingent to make a bold statement in the quest for success by recording a third victory of the campaign over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men.
"If we're going to do anything in the league with regards to winning the title, there's only one result we can go for and that's the win," he told Liverpoolfc.tv.
"But as I always stress, it's about development and progression of players and tonight will be a good test of how far the young lads have come.
"It's not about getting one over on United, it's about us doing the right things, believing in ourselves and the way we set things up, having confidence to go an express ourselves and, when we do recover the ball, how we can go and hurt them."
McMahon is well aware his second-string face arguably their most difficult challenge of their campaign, particularly given the first-team experience in United's ranks.
However, he insists he will send his troops out with a positive mentality.
"It certainly is (going to be difficult), especially with the squad we've got at the moment as we're really down on numbers, but we'll give it our best shot," said McMahon.
"The strength and depth of the squad United have is extensive and they can call on a number of players. Whatever side they put out, they're going to be formidable.
"We will be organised, work hard, difficult to break down and look to play when we have the ball."
The Reserves slipped to a disappointing 3-2 defeat at Wigan Athletic last time out, spurning the chance to go joint-top of the table - and McMahon is urging his players to bounce back in the best possible fashion.
"We stopped playing and doing the right things," he said. "We need to get back to doing what we do well, which is staying together and showing good movement as a team and not as individuals, which we tended to do (at Wigan) and lost our concentration and focus.
"We were organised in the first half at Wigan but we were very disappointing in the second half, so we're going to look at why it went wrong and try to solve those problems on the pitch tonight."
Comment