Thursday, 26 February 2015

Cork: "Beating Man Utd massive, but we're not setting targets"

New Swansea signing Jack Cork is delighted to have picked up his first win in Swansea colours





Having completed his move from Southampton in the January transfer window, Jack Cork is understandably delighted to have gained his first three points in South Wales. That said, he's not being drawn into targets about where the Swans may finish this season, instead preferring to concentrate on getting game time and helping his side finish as high in the league as possible:

"I have only just come, I have had three games, and all I've said is that I want see how many games we can win. Personally I want to play as many games as I can, but for the team our objective is to see how high we can finish. We can then set new objectives for next season. 
"Manchester United played a diamond and we matched them up. Our system was quite effective first half, and later on we changed it and had the two deeper midfielders to keep a good shape. Tactically we got it spot on. We nullified their main threats and kept a good shape throughout the game. 
"We prepared for the game really well. We did a lot of work on shape and tactics. That meant we were really ready for them and what they would throw at us. We knew how much we wanted to win the game and how big it was for us. 
"I think everyone just gave it their all — it was great. For me, beating United was massive. Coming to a new club is always hard and to get a result like that in your first three games is a massive achievement. Beating United will give everyone a lot of confidence. 
"That win will get everyone going, and hopefully it will give us the boost that we needed to kick on for the last 12 games." 
Source

It's encouraging to hear further vindication of Monk's tactics, and it's also nice to hear that Cork is clearly focused on getting as much football under his belt as he can. That's obviously the reason he came here, and he showed against Manchester United exactly why we signed him, nullifying Fellaini for large swathes of the match.

Hopefully, as Cork says, this result provides a boost heading into the final few months of the season.