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Post-Match Quotes | West Ham United 2-2 Manchester United -- FA Cup Round 3

Post-match quotes from Sir Alex Ferguson, Nemanja Vidic, and Sam Allardyce.

Jamie McDonald

Opta hasn't made available the same depth of statistics for this FA Cup fixture that they usually do for Premier League and Champions League ones. Therefore, we only have the post-match quotes for Manchester United's draw at Upton Park with West Ham United.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

Sir Alex Ferguson | MUFC manager (courtesy of MUTV and ITV)

(Overall thoughts...) "We want to stay in the competition and have a go at winning it. We’ve had some terrible draws over the years and been knocked out early, we don’t enjoy that. For us to be losing 2-1 in that game was amazing given the chances we created and the football we played. But when you play West Ham you have got to defend your crosses from the set pieces because they are brilliant and the best team in the league at that, but we didn’t do it. Twice, from the same position, James Collins scored from the same type of cross from Joe Cole and we lost two goals. Really, you could say it was a travesty but they are good at it and you have to admire that part of their game. Given some of the football we played and the chances that we missed, we should have really been home safely. It was a fantastic piece of play for our first goal and we played a lot of good football. We maybe should have been ahead at half-time but as I say, we have to defend better than that. They are good at what they do and you have to give them real credit because they are a handful. When Ryan Giggs headed over the bar, Danny Welbeck hit another over, Tom Cleverley hit one more over and then Shinji Kagawa had one blocked near the line, I thought it wasn’t going to be our day."

(On Robin van Persie's late equaliser...) ""But you have to praise the pass from Ryan and the first touch of the ball from Robin. The finish was absolutely world class. You are hoping he is going to score given his ability to do that. There were only a few minutes left so it was a great goal for us."

(On if the replay is a nuisance due to another match added to the fixture list...) "We have got a good strong squad and I’m sure that all of our players will be back by the time we play these games. Nani started training and is almost fit now and all of the defenders, including Phil Jones, will be ready in the next week or so. We have a strong squad so why not use it?"

(On whether he thought the late goal was coming...) "You never do that with our team [write us off]. But certainly when you’re 2-1 down with a couple of minutes or three minutes left, you just hope you get a break."

(On RvP's impact in his first season at the club...) "I think it’s a challenge, coming to a new club, but his experience… he’s a well-established international, he’s a mature age now and he’s brought that maturity to our forward line. His performance coming on was tremendous."

Nemanja Vidic | MUFC defender (courtesy of MUTV)

(Overall thoughts and on West Ham...) "They made this game hard. They tried to defend with everybody behind the ball, played long balls. We always know that on set-pieces they are a tough team to play against and eventually today they scored two against us from crosses. They scored from the second ball which we should look at again, and we are definitely a bit disappointed. It’s something to talk about. We have the height in the team, we should deal better with that, but most important is that we managed to stay in the game and I believe at home it’s going to be a different game. We have a wide pitch. This pitch is hard to play against, they’re good physically and in the air like they showed today and we have to give credit to them as well. They fight well and in the end I think 2-2 is a result they deserved."

(On the importance of the FA Cup...) "We believe it’s important. We didn’t win the trophy for the last eight years and it’s a trophy we’re looking to win. We showed today in how we celebrated the goal, and I’m hoping at home it will be a different game. I think we have a big squad and we can manage to have one more game."

(On RvP and his late equaliser...) ""His touch is magnificent and his finishing is top class. It’s movement from the book, touch from the book, goal from the book. It’s something they can show to kids, how to move and finish in the last third. He was magnificent for us, we just hope he’s going to be in the same form in the end."

Sam Allardyce | WHUFC manager (courtesy of whufc.com)

(Overall thoughts...) "I thought we grew into the game really well. We saw Manchester United moving the ball around in the early stages and were tactically aware of the need not to get frustrated because they are a good passing side and they rotate positions very well. We started to probe and get on the front foot a little bit and started to get into their half and get our wide men and full-back in down the side.

We started to create chances and certainly our best chance, which was headed off the line [by Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic from Alou Diarra's header] and we were unlucky not to go 1-0 up. They then scored a fantastic goal with their movement and one-touch football and a great finish at the end of it.

Then we came storming back with a really quality ball from Joe Cole and a great header from Ginge. It was unlikely enough that he would score once, but then he scored a second for us and got us in front. We kept United extremely quiet and then Matt Taylor headed back from Mark Noble from a great cross from Matt Jarvis and Coley just couldn't toe-poke it in.

Ryan Giggs then smashes a half-volley diagonal about 65 yards and Van Persie peels off James Tomkins, his first touch is in front of him and bang, it's in the back of the net. It was a sickener but it was a great performance from the lads and it's a real shame they didn't get us through at the first time of asking.

We're still in the draw after a fantastic performance on the back of a very good win over Norwich. I hope our bad run is now over and, if we continue to keep performances like this going, we will continue to get results."

(On Joe Cole...) "He is a top international player for England and he played for the top team in the country at Chelsea. He had a move that went wrong to Liverpool so you could relate it to Steven Pienaar, who went from Everton to Tottenham and it didn't work, then he has gone back and it's gone well. Joe is still in his early thirties and, as long as he stays fit for me - we'll work hard at doing that - then he will be a great asset."

(On the rest of his players...) "Everybody was outstanding - the only one who wasn't was Jussi because he didn't have anything to do. What does that say about the performance? If he had saved Van Persie's shot he'd have been the hero because I think we'd have won the game. How many saves did he have to make? We have limited Manchester United to the fewest chances they've probably created in a game this season. I know people will say they scored two but they did so with probably the only three chances they've had. They had a header at the far post [from Giggs] that went over which was a reasonable chance, but at the other end we opened them up and exposed them on several occasions, so it's just a shame we didn't get the win."