MATIC TELLS UTD PODCAST ABOUT OUR TITLE AMBITIONS

Nemanja Matic is confident Manchester United can win the 2020/21 Premier League title, following a strong and consistent finish to the previous campaign.

The Reds showed clear signs of development during the first half of 2019/20 but were at times guilty of dropping points from matches the team was expected to win.

Following the capture of Bruno Fernandes in January, coupled with some hard work at the Aon Training Complex, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men were a much-improved side and put together a 14-match unbeaten run to finish third.

Encouragingly, research shows no Premier League team earned more points than United from 1 February until the end of the season, which fuels the belief that further progress can be made in 2020/21.

In our latest episode of UTD Podcast, which will be released via your streaming platforms from 17:00 BST on Monday, Matic looks forward to the new campaign and talks confidently about our aims.

“From the next season there is no excuse,” says a bullish Nemanja. “We have to go with everything. We have to fight for the title because I felt that this year we dropped some points too easy.

“We allowed Liverpool to win [the title], I don’t know, ten games before the season finished. They won the league, so we cannot allow that. We need to fight to the end. We have to play with more confidence, with more responsibility.

“My personal target is to win the league with United and I am sure that everyone wants to do the same. We have to promise our supporters that we will do our best - exactly what we have done after [the coronavirus lockdown] when we started to play again. That’s Manchester United.

“We have to win five, six consecutive games then you can drop some points, then again you have to do that run. Like that we can win the league. In the beginning of the season we were not stable, we won one or two games then we lost and we drew. Proper United is exactly what we did after [lockdown] and I hope we can continue like that next season.”

Matic played a crucial role in securing our third-place finish in the league and he was particularly impressive when the season resumed, following the four-month break due to COVID-19.

Nemanja’s great form in central midfield, often alongside Paul Pogba, was rewarded in July with a new contract that will keep him at the club until at least June 2023.

As he explains during his UTD Podcast, the new deal was a source of great pride for his family and even had a touching effect on his young son.

“I signed a new contract and I’m very happy that the club believes in my work,” explains the Serbian. “I have to say when your club offer you a new contract it means something. That means you are doing a good job and I was very, very proud when we started to talk about a new contract.

“I didn’t think a lot, I said to my agent, ‘Of course I want to sign’. My family is happy. My son almost started to cry because he can stay in the same school. From September he is under ten he is also playing at United so for my family it is also great.”