WES HITS BACK

Last updated : 11 February 2004 By Editor
"It [criticism] is going to happen. The lads were playing brilliantly, but Rio is out for a while now and I've just come back into the side and we've let some goals in. I've not been playing top-notch so I understand it.

"I've had my ups and downs so I won't let it get to me and keep working at my game. My fitness is getting better. I could still be better but the fitness is beginning to come now.

"It's just down to sharpness. That sharpness you need just isn't there at the moment. It comes with time, practice and playing games. I've got to be mentally strong and keep working at it.

"If you're 3-0 up it should be game over. But we let them back in. That's very disappointing.

"The top three teams all won at the weekend, so it's still very tight. We've just got to keep winning. The confidence in the squad is good at the moment.

"We know we can play better. We're scoring goals, we just need to stop the opposition scoring.”


Meanwhile Giggs is confident the crush of high-profile fixtures from now until the end of the season will finally see United hitting top form.

"Hopefully playing twice a week will help us. We are still up there even though we haven't been playing well but we can't afford to keep scraping results.

"In past seasons we have won matches when our performances haven't been so good and then managed to pick up our form when it got to the really important stages. That is what we need to do now.

"There are some important games coming up and if we don't pick up our form we will be punished."