CM Story - The Story of Josh McEwen

Sunderland (4-4-2 Holding): Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Alderete, Reinildo, Sadiki, Xhaka, Traore (Off 67), Adingra (Off 86), Brobbey, Mayenda 

Subs: Roefs, Huggins, Diarra (On 67), Hekimoglu, Alese, Talbi (On 86), Rusyn, Le Fee, Hjelde 

Arsenal (4-2-1-3): Kepa, Laimer, Saliba, Pienczak, Zinchenko, Bouaddi, Rice, Eze (Off 67), Nwaneri, Gyokeres, Trossard (Off 67) 

Subs: Madueke, Gabriel, Mosquera, Odegaard (On 67), Saka (On 67), Martinelli, Merino, Jesus, Zubimendi 

Q: Cedric a massive point for your side how happy are you after that game? 

Cedric Veenstra “I am delighted with the performance of my team, we played against a really top team and I thought that we worked so hard on and off the ball to make the game so competitive and I thought we deserved that point. Patterson had a great game made a couple of really good saves but I thought we also created a couple of chances where if you can take one of them you could end up with three points but we’re happy with a point.” 

Q: Josh a 0-0 draw Viktor Gyokeres having the biggest chance. Some have said they worry if he can fit into your system do you think he can? 

Josh McEwen “Viktor knows this chance he should do better but how many top strikers miss chances, he is such a fantastic player we are lucky to have him and I am sure he will score a lot of goals for us. The young lads today were amazing I am so proud of them especially Ayyoub (Bouaddi) and Marek (Pienczak) the way Ayyoub was so composed in midfield made many great passes and protected the defence and Marek where the striker was trying to bully him but he was strong won a lot of headers and made some key tackles. We want to win obviously we deserved to but the young lads were great and now we have a couple of tough games with Liverpool to prepare for.” 

Arsenal (4-2-1-3): Kepa, Laimer (Off 45), Gabriel (Off 45), Saliba, Zinchenko (Off 45), Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli 

Subs: Madueke, Kiwior, Mosquera (On 45), Pienczak (On 45), Nwaneri, Vieira, Merino, Jesus (On 45), Bouaddi 

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Marquinhos, Konate, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Andre (Off 62), Salah (Off 56), Gakpo (Off 52), Wirtz, Isak 

Subs: Jaros, Militao (On 62), Szoboszlai (On 52), Ekitike (On 56), Gomez, Elliott, Chiesa, Fofana, Tsimikas 

Q: Josh out of the FA Cup after a tough defeat to Liverpool. What went wrong today? 

Josh McEwen “It is a difficult one the first half we got off to a terrible start and never really recovered from it. Half time we changed shape to try and get more control but on the counter and in transitions Liverpool were so much better than us and we can have no complaints that we lost. We worked hard but the quality wasn’t there today when we had the ball and it must improve for the next game with Liverpool in the Champions League.” 

Q: Arne a dominant win for your side that sees you go into the next round. How much confidence does that give you ahead of your Champions League tie here midweek? 

Arne Slot “A lot I think, we dominated the game against them last month but only drew today we won 2-0 and we could have scored a couple more goals. Arsenal are a tough team and we expect another tough game midweek but if we play like we did today we have a great chance and we will try and do the same on Tuesday which is to start fast force them into mistakes and try to win the game.” 

Arsenal (4-2-1-3): Kepa, Laimer, Saliba, Pienczak, Kiwior, Zubimendi, Rice, Eze (Off 66), Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard (Off 66) 

Subs: Madueke, Zinchenko, Mosquera, Odegaard (On 66), Nwaneri (On 66), Martinelli, Merino, Jesus, Bouaddi 

Liverpool (4-2-3-1):Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Marquinhos, Konate, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Andre (Off 66), Salah (Off 73), Gakpo, Szoboszlai, Isak (Off 73) 

Subs: Jaros, Militao (On 66), Wirtz (On 73), Ekitike, Gomez, Elliott, Chiesa, Fofana (On 73), Tsimikas 

Q: Josh a much better performance from your team but you still end up on the losing team. It was a special freekick from Szoboszlai but how much does it hurt losing so late? 

Josh McEwen “Of course it was a special free kick similar to the one he scored at Anfield last season but it hurts because they have had one shot all game and they beat us 1-0. I thought today we were so good we deserved to win the game but we lose Bukayo (Saka) has two one on ones where their keeper has made outstanding saves and we dominated the ball it is just not nice to lose. I thought Jakub (Kiwior) was outstanding at left back he was the best player on the pitch by a mile I am so happy with his attitude and today he got his chance and he was outstanding the whole defence was but unfortunately we lose and now we have a tough tie at Anfield next week.” 

Q: Arne a dramatic late win. What a goal to win any game what are your thoughts? 

Arne Slot “Yeah well we saw the same goal last season from Dominik (Szoboszlai) and he picked another huge game to score it again. He is a special player and today he showed again he can deliver in big moments. We knew Arsenal would be a tough game especially after the game at weekend where we beat them but we dug in and maybe we didn't deserve to win but we deserved to win last month and didn’t so I think this is football we take a 1-0 lead and next week at Anfield will be an exciting game I am sure.” 

Arsenal (4-2-1-3): Kepa, Laimer (Off 78), Gabriel, Mosquera, Zinchenko, Bouaddi, Rice (Off 58), Odegaard (Off 58), Madueke, Gyokeres (Off 58), Martinelli 

Subs: Raya, Pienczak, Saliba, Eze (On 58), Nwaneri, Trossard, Merino (On 58), Jesus (On 58), Zubimendi (On 78) 

Leeds United (4-4-1-1): Perri, Bogle, Bijol, Wober, Schmidt, Gnonto, Longstaff (Off 78), Pacheco (Off 49), Nakamura, Aaronson, Okafor 

Subs: Meslier, Justin, Ampadu (On 78), Nmecha, Bornauw, Gruev (On 49), Joseph, Ramazani, Byram 

Q: Josh back to winning ways after a winless run. Viktor only had one touch in the first half which was him kicking the game off. What did you say to him at half time to get that reaction? 

Josh McEwen “To Viktor we said we were sorry we didn’t create him a chance and when we created them for him he scored two goals, he has had a tough run lately hes missed a few chances but we haven’t created the amount of chances his workrate deserves but today we did. Again Ayyoub (Bouaddi) was outstanding he was the best player on the pitch especially after their goal the way he dominated the midfield every challenge he won and his passing was near perfect he is going to be such a great player for us over the coming years. It was great to have David on the bench hopefully he is back playing soon but Kepa has played well so we will see but he won’t be in net Wednesday it is to soon for him.” 

Q: Jagoba a tough game against one of the top teams in the league what are your thoughts on the match? 

Jagoba Arrasate “Arsenal have a lot of talent in their team and we saw that today, the first half I thought we kept them at arms length allowing them to pass without really causing us any threat. To concede two goals in the first ten minutes of the second half after that half really disappoints us because I told the lads at half time that they would come out and progress the ball up the field faster and that is what did us for the first goal and from there the second quickly followed from a great through ball and suddenly your 2-0 down and chasing a game against one of the top sides in Europe you have little chance of coming back but we fought back got a goal but just couldn’t create a second chance.” 

Liverpool (4-2-3-1):Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Marquinhos, Konate, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Andre (Off 61), Salah, Gakpo, Wirtz (Off 81), Isak 

Subs: Jaros, Militao, Szoboszlai (On 81), Chiesa, Ekitike, Elliott, Gomez, Jones (On 61), Tsimikas 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Kepa, Laimer, Saliba, Pienczak, Kiwior, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard 

Subs: Raya, Mosquera, Gabriel, Eze, Nwaneri, Martinelli, Merino, Jesus, Bouaddi 

Q: Arne a humbling defeat did their change in shape surprise you? 

Arne Slot “In the first half it did, we didn’t expect them to play Martin (Odegaard) deeper and it took us a little bit to long to adapt to it, the players said they thought he was just dropping deeper but playing in behind but it was also the fact Declan (Rice) was further forward it caused us more problems. We weren’t good enough over two legs to qualify when you analysis it but we let our fans down the atmosphere they created we can’t say we lose because their shape surprises us because they score twice in the last ten minutes although their third was obviously a counter when we pushed up but they deserved to go through over the two legs so congratulations to them.” 

Q: Josh a change of shape and what a result by your side how proud are you of coming to Anfield and turning it around? 

Josh McEwen “I can’t take the credit it goes to the players they went out there and they dominated probably the best team in Europe at the minute. Martin (Odegaard) and Declan (Rice) in front of Martin (Zubimendi) all three of them today were perfect and it made the rest of the teams jobs easier because they worked tirelessly they were always wanting the ball off a team mate or off the opponent and then Viktor’s (Gyokeres) finish at the end to seal it absolutely unstoppable right into the top corner I am proud of all my players what a performance.” 

Arsenal (4-2-1-3): Raya, Laimer (Off 65), Saliba, Pienczak, Kiwior, Zubimendi (Off 65), Rice, Odegaard (Off 65), Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard (Off 65) 

Subs: Kepa, Mosquera, Gabriel (On 65), Eze (On 65), Nwaneri (On 65), Martinelli, Merino, Jesus, Bouaddi (On 65) 

Manchester United (5-2-3): Lammens, Henrichs, Mazraoui, Yoro, Maguire (Off 65), Carlos Augusto, Ruiz (Off 88), Mainoo (Off 65), Mbuemo, Sesko, Cunha (Off 88) 

Subs: Bayinder, Mendy (On 65), Johnson (On 88), Hojlund, Leon, Amad (On 65), Zirkzee (On 88), Rashford, Fredricson 

Q: Josh an absolutely dominant performance from your side. You changed back to a 4-2-1-3 formation is that the best your team has ever played? 

Josh McEwen “It is up there I think the Liverpool game midweek away at Anfield with the circumstances being a goal down maybe edges this one but no doubt this is up there I think between them two games. I am so happy for both Viktor (Gyokeres) and Bukayo (Saka) that they are scoring goals because the work they have put in is unbelievable. We went back with Martin (Odegaard) pushed up because we know they play with a two in midfield so we thought if Dec (Rice) and Martin (Zubimendi) can do what they do there it will free Martin up but what a goal by Martin it is the best goal a player has scored for me from that distance to go in off the post it was magical and he is another player who works so hard he deserved it.” 

Q: Goncalvo a disappointing result for your team a humiliating 6-1 loss against a big rival. What are your thoughts 

Goncalvo Alvares “I am sorry for our fans who travelled so far to watch our team. Manchester United can not lose a game of football 6-1 against anybody. The first half was very even we had more of the ball but they scored a unstoppable goal from thirty yards before half time to make it 3-1 which wasn’t a fair reflection of the half but the second half we self destructed in that initial ten minutes and at 5-1 down it was just to easy for them and it shows how far off the top we are right now. We had injuries to our defence but the players that came in must do better like I say 6-1 loss for this club is never going to be accepted.”