We take our regular look at the weekend’s press conferences and post-match reports for any soundbites of interest to Fantasy managers. David Moyes discusses his defence and the game time of a certain Japanese midfielder, Juan Mata admits he’d rather play in the middle, Jose Mourinho waxes lyrical on his stable defence, whilst both Tim Sherwood and Felix Magath questions their respective teams’ character:

Manchester United manager David Moyes has suggested that Nemanja Vidic could be in line for a spell on the bench. In light of his captain’s impending departure for Serie A giants Inter Milan at the end of the season, Moyes dropped his captain from the starting XI in Saturday’s win at West Brom. United delivered a third consecutive clean sheet – all of which have come away from Old Trafford – and with the fixtures and resilience picking up, Fantasy managers may be tempted to invest at the back in light of Moyes’ comments:

“I am going to be looking to try and give the younger centre halves opportunities to show what they are capable of. Going into this period of the season we will look to see how Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans when fit, how they are able to handle this part of this season”.
David Moyes on building a new first-choice centre-back pairing.

Also on the agenda, Japan International Shinji Kagawa received his vote of confidence for the season’s run-in, too. Kagawa’s 15 minute cameo at the weekend was only his tenth league appearance of the season, and with Champions League ambitions all but written off, Moyes may use the final Gameweeks to experiment with his squad:

“We have competition for places with Adnan and Mata, but Shinji will play a lot more from now until the end of the season.”
Moyes boosts Shinji Kagawa’s first team prospects ahead of the run-in.

While Juan Mata was busy making a case for his own starting role. The Spanish playmaker’s form has failed to live up to his price tag since joining the champions:

“I love to play between the lines. Right now I am playing on the right but to honest I don’t see myself as a proper winger. I like to play between the lines as a No. 10. When I come inside, that is where I feel comfortable to play, to keep in touch with the ball because I love to play in possession and with the ball.”
Juan Mata on being played out of position wide right for his new club, Man United.

Fulham boss Felix Magath revealed his thoughts on player selection after handing Cauley Woodrow a debut up front in the relegation battle at Cardiff. The striker had yet to feature in the Premier League at all this season and Magath was impressed with his tenacity, simultaneously bringing the club’s decision to bring record signing Kostas Mitroglou to the club into question.

“We have good players but some aren’t used to relegation fights. At the bottom of the league you have to play differently. You have to fight more. Cardiff were fighting every second and we tried to play. Our players have to get used to fighting very soon. I saw no gamble [with Woodrow] as he is a very talented player. I was very satisfied with him today; he did a lot of work for the team. Mitroglou isn’t used to relegation fights. He came from the best club in Greece and he’s only used to scoring. That’s his strength. The Premier League is the best in the world and he’s not used to it.”
Felix Magath draws comparisons on his strikers’ readiness for a relegation dogfight.

Having previously offered a brutal assessment of Spurs’ defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Saturday, Tim Sherwood reiterated his viewpoint yesterday. Speaking ahead of tonight’s Europa League game against Benfica, the Tottenham boss remains adamant that his side needs to show greater will-to-win from this point onwards, with a north London derby clash against Arsenal only three days away:

“I want players who want to play for the club, and they’ve got between now and the end of the season to show that they’re playing for the club and not for themselves. I don’t think at any football club a player should be doing a club a favour by playing for them. It’s a level playing field from the kids to the money signings. No-one’s going to get preferential treatment just because of a price tag or a reputation. It’s about what they’re doing on the pitch. Anyone can play badly, anyone can get outplayed. We know that, that’s the nature of football. But what you cannot do is get outfought and out-desired and I do not want to see that happening again, that capitulation.
Tim Sherwood admits his team sheets won’t be swayed by reputations after Spurs’ heavy defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho had no such worries, however. His side collected a ninth clean sheet in their last thirteen Premiership games since the 0-0 stalemate at Arsenal before Christmas and the Portuguese manager was happy to wax lyrical about his preferred defensive set-up. Mourinho’s comments will certainly grant an element of confidence to those concerned about Cesar Azpilicueta’s first team prospects – the full-back is comfortably the cheapest route to the league’s leanest defence at £5.6m in the Fantasy Premier League:

“We know to win matches you need to score more goals than the opponent. What helps is if you don’t concede. We work, analyse opponents and give feedback to the team. We try to find the best balance. Normally, when you make rotation in the team you do it with wingers because they can come in and change the game for 20-25 minutes. Defensively you try to find a balance. I like Ivanovic at right-back more than in central defence. I like the understanding and stability between Terry and Cahill. At this moment, Azpilicueta is unbeatable. For many games I have not seen anybody get the better of him in individual duels. The team is compact, we have a good balance and we are playing well defensively.”
Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho on his team’s excellent defensive form.

Swansea boss Garry Monk praised the recent displays of Pablo Hernandez after the Spaniard impressed in a central role for the Welsh club. Hernandez was mainly utilised on the left flank by previous boss Michael Laudrup but has picked up three assists in the last four matches since being moved to the role in “the hole” behind Wilfried Bony:

“Pablo is a very good player and I like him a lot. I think he can offer the squad a lot of quality. He has got a very good passing range and he has also brought that work ethic you need into his game — that’s the other side of it. All credit goes to Pablo for doing that, and he is a very important player for us right now”.
Garry Monk talks up the importance of Pablo Hernandez to Swansea’s survival bid.