Nemanja Matic reveals Man Utd dressing room atmosphere is ‘not fantastic’ as Premier League struggles continue
NEMANJA MATIC has admitted that the dressing room atmosphere at Manchester United is “not fantastic” amid their current struggles.
The Red Devils are currently sixth in the Premier League table – four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal having played a game more.
A number of players are rumoured to be unhappy with their current situation – with the likes of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard among those touted for a summer exit.
Quizzed about the mood in the camp heading into the run in, Matic admitted that things aren’t going well.
The Serbian, 33, told talkSPORT: “The atmosphere? It depends on results.
“Of course, when you have good results the atmosphere is much better and everyone is happy.
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“As you know we are not in the best position in the league and the atmosphere is not fantastic, but we have to stay positive and believe until the end because we want to finish in that top-four.
“The atmosphere in our dressing room will depend on that. If we finish top-four then it will be good for us, everyone will be… I cannot say happy, but satisfied.
“If we don’t make that, it will be a very sad dressing room.”
When asked by host Jim White about the pressure of playing for United, Matic added: “When you play for a big club the pressure and expectations are high. We have to deal with that, of course.
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“In our dressing room we have so many good players with a good character and we have to accept that and we have to know the pressure is normal.”
On interim boss Ralf Rangnick, he continued: “He is an experienced coach. We work very hard to be honest with him.
“Of course, everyone knows that at the moment we don’t have the best results.
“He is trying his best and we are trying to follow his ideas. Only at the end of the season, when we see the table and see where we are, then we can speak more about this.
“At the moment, what I can say is that Ralf and his staff, and us as players, are doing our best.
“We need to win games. That’s simple. We need to follow the coach’s ideas, we need to work on that every day. Game by game to collect points.
We will need to win almost every game until the end of the season
Nemanja Matic
“The next game is the most important one for us at the moment, Leicester, we know it is going to be hard.
“From now until the end of the season, only points matter for us. It doesn’t matter how we play, the most important thing is to win games.”
On what it will take to secure a place in the Champions League, Matic is under no illusions.
He concluded: “We need to finish in the top four, that’s our aim and we will do everything for that.
“I think we can make it. We will need to win almost every game until the end of the season. I think that’s possible and we will do everything for that.”