Pallister: Still Plenty To Play For

Gary Pallister joined a host of first-team stars and club legends at the launch of Manchester United's global partnership with Gulf Oil International on Monday afternoon. He also took time to speak to ManUtd.com about a big week for the Reds, featuring matches against Liverpool and Manchester City, and told us what it was like to be in the away end at Anfield last week...

How much do you still enjoy being involved with the club and lending your support to partnerships like the new one with Gulf Oil International?
It’s great to be involved in events like this and a partnership like this shows how big Manchester United is. Gulf Oil is a global brand, as is United, and it’ll be great to see this partnership evolve. We all know how big United are around the world and the support we have, and the partnership with Gulf will only increase that.

You’ve travelled around the world with United as a player and legend. What’s the experience like?
Whenever you travel with the club and you go to Asia in particular, it’s like The Beatles have landed! It surprised me as a player when I first went there to see the reaction from the fans and it gives you an incredible buzz to see that kind of support all over the world.

What's your summary of Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final game against West Ham?
I thought a draw was a fair result. It wasn’t a typical FA Cup quarter-final tie, it felt a little bit subdued, brought to life by [Dimitri] Payet’s magic with the free-kick. We replied and got ourselves back into the game and [Anthony] Martial scored a goal that was well worked so we live to fight another day. The draw has opened up with Arsenal and Chelsea going out so it’s a great chance for one team to go on and win it now. Hopefully that's us.

How important psychologically was it to get back into the tie with huge games coming up against our two main rivals this week?
It was very important - especially as we’d come into the cup game on the back of a bad result against Liverpool and not the greatest of performances. We needed a reaction on Sunday and we got that and we’re still in the draw. We’ve got to start stringing performances together between now and the end of the season.

Next up is the Europa League second-leg clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford. You were in the away end at Anfield – how was that experience?
[Laughs] It was different! I didn’t enjoy standing up for the whole game as I get a bit tired in my old age now! It was good to be in there and it was nice to experience it, especially with Denis [Irwin] and Coley [Andy Cole] and we enjoyed it. It was just a shame we didn’t play well on the night and lost but, if we can reproduce the kind of atmosphere there was at Anfield this Thursday, we can make it very uncomfortable for Liverpool. I’m sure the players and the fans will be up for it and doing everything they can to help us get back into this tie.

What’s the key to getting ourselves back into it? Scoring the next goal?
Definitely because, if we concede, we’ll be right up against it and we’ll need to score four. So we can’t afford to concede and we need to show the intent to get at them. The atmosphere will be key – we need to build one inside the stadium and I’m sure we will because, whenever United play Liverpool, it’s always a great atmosphere. Hopefully we can do that and it will make Liverpool a bit nervous.

You know what it’s like to be fighting on different fronts with two big games so close together – what’s it like leading up to them?
It’s exciting and it's why you want to be at a club like Manchester United because you play in big games. Those are the ones that get you going as a player – going to Anfield was a great experience and going to City for a local derby was a great buzz. So, if I was in that dressing room now with those games coming up, I’d be really excited about the week ahead.

Finally, despite some difficult times recently, there is still plenty to play for and opportunities for the team to do well isn’t there?
Yes, of course there is. The tie against Liverpool isn’t dead, we’re in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, obviously with a tough replay to come, and we’ve still got a great chance to get into the top four and secure Champions League football again. I’m sure quite a few teams would take this as their season right now - there’s still a lot to play for as we come into the last couple of months of the season.