Herrera: Attitude Was Key To Win

Ander Herrera believes that the Reds ‘best attitude’ was the reason Manchester United progressed into the Emirates FA Cup quarter final after their 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Sunday.

The Reds went a goal down when Danny Graham found the net on 17 minutes, but Marcus Rashford levelled soon after and Zlatan Ibrahimovic combined with Paul Pogba after the break to send United through to face Chelsea in the quarter-finals.

And Herrera believes the Reds' attitude played a crucial part in ensuring progression over lower league opposition. 

“I think we played very serious,” Herrera told MUTV. “We can be very happy with the attitude of everyone. It's not always enough to come with a good attitude, you must come with the best attitude.

“It is never easy to come here because the opponents in these types of games always play with everything to beat us. Every second ball is important, every set-play is important because if you lose the ball in your half you are in trouble," he continued.

"I think we can be very happy with everyone because the attitude was fantastic and we have the quality, so when the attitude is very good, sooner or later the goal will come.” 

The crucial goal did indeed come in the shape of substitute Ibrahimovic who linked-up expertly with fellow game-changer Pogba and Herrera was full of praise for the Swede. 

“We know how important he is for us," he declared. "I think our manager knows exactly when he is important and when he can be decisive for us. And he did it, he scored a fantastic goal from a fantastic pass from Paul.” 

Herrera also paid tribute to the United faithful who did not stop singing throughout the whole game, whilst also pointing to the positive performance of a much-changed team. 

“I've played in all of these games [against lower league opposition] since I have been at United and I really like them because the atmosphere is always very nice and we bring a lot of fans and the support from them is fantastic, he continued. 

“The pitch was not brilliant to play football, but the team was at a very, very good level. The manager decided to make some changes and everyone answered I think so we can be very happy. 

“We can take a lot of things from the game. We were the better team on the pitch and we controlled the game from the first minute. They scored a fantastic goal, but then we had some good chances and we did our job."

The Reds are still fighting on all fronts with an EFL Cup final to look forward to this weekend and Herrera is hopeful United can kick on further. 

“That's what this club is about [fighting for trophies]. We fight for every title, every trophy, respect our history and we are showing that in every game,” he concluded. 

“Sometimes you can play better or worse, but the attitude is always very good and we are in a good moment. Hopefully we can continue like this.”