Evra Focused & Driven

Patrice Evra is pleased with his form this term and revealed to United Review why he's driven to improving, and helping United clinch the title...

It’s crunch time in the title race. What is the manager telling the players?
It’s simple: he tells us we need to win every game. At United the aim is always to win. In March, we lost to Liverpool and Fulham and that was the first time since I arrived that we’d lost two league games in a row. I’ve never felt pain like that before and I don’t want to again. That’s why I’m confident we’ll finish the job and win the league.

Is it difficult to enjoy your football at this stage of the season?
Not at all! It’s a joy to play in these games and be involved in the title race. Sir Alex’s team-talk before games is all about enjoying and expressing ourselves. It’s a privilege to play for a club where you have the opportunity to make history. Yes, it’s a lot of pressure, but pressure I’m happy to have.

You’ve twice been voted in the PFA Team of the Year. Is that an honour?
It’s a great honour and recently I understood why people voted for me. It’s not because of great performances but because of consistency. I realised this after the Carling Cup final when I played badly.

You came in for criticism after that match…
That’s right. A lot of people were saying I wasn’t the player I was last season. All this after one bad game! My strength is my consistency and after one poor performance the press crucified me. But the criticism made me happy because I knew they wouldn’t be so upset if that was the sort of performance they expected every week. I took it as a compliment – [laughs] I must be the best left-back in the world!

So you’ve been pleased with your form this season?
Well, if I’ve been voted in the PFA Team of the Season it’s not because I’m playing badly! I’ve had a very strange season and some parts have been very difficult. Before my four-game ban over Christmas I was on top form. I was feeling unbelievable, like I was on top of the world. But then I received the suspension and, to be honest, it got me down. I came back against Chelsea, I played well and we won 3-0, but I injured myself setting up Wayne Rooney. So I missed another seven games, which was very frustrating and made it difficult to get back into my rhythm. Now my goal is to work hard every day and maintain the standards I had before.