Managers Press Conference – Fulham

Manchester United manager David Moyes sat down in front of the press for his weekly pre-match press conference at the club’s AON Training Complex in Carrington, ahead of the trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham tomorrow afternoon. Moyes spoke about his squad fitness, their results of late, squad rotation, Javier Hernandez, current league position and the return of Darren Fletcher.

Here are the main points of the press conference:

Moyes on the fitness of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Robin van Persie:

“I think both (Vidic and Ferdinand) are very close to full fitness. They showed that in midweek when playing Premier League opposition. They both played for 90 minutes so I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be ready to be selected or involved.

“Van Persie has been fine. He’s trained well and worked quite well this week so hopefully he will be okay. Welbeck has had a bit of fluid on his knee. He’s trained for a few days this week so he’s certainly getting much closer to match fitness but won’t travel to Fulham this weekend.”

Moyes on his squads “half decent” results of late:

“We’ve been a bit up and down, winning one then losing one, so we’ll hopefully try to get into a bit more consistency.”

Moyes on squad rotation:

“I think everybody is desperate to get into the first team and we can see that every day in their training. The players have a brilliant attitude, always trying to impress every day.

“We’ve introduced one or two young players into the team and if any more of them do well, we’ll continue to put them in.

“They’re all first-team players and in their own right could all be playing every week.”

Moyes on the form of Javier Hernandez:

“I’m really pleased for Chicha. It’s been a slow start for him as he had a difficult summer, coming backwards and forwards to Mexico with all the games they had to play.

“But he’s started to do what he’s done over the years: score goals. He came off the bench to score the winner [against Stoke] and scored in midweek, so long may that continue.”

Moyes on current Barclays Premier League position:

“It’s a gap and we have to work to try to close it. We’ll take one game at a time and get closer to the top. That’s the plan but there’s a long way to go.”

Moyes on the return of Darren Fletcher:

“His training has been coming along, he’s looking much better in himself and is looking stronger every day. But we won’t rush him. We don’t want any setbacks with him coming back so we’ll take our time but it’s great to see him back playing.”