Northampton boss Rob Page lifts ban on Manchester United talk
Monday 19 September 2016 16:49, UK
Northampton manager Rob Page has revealed he banned talk of his side's EFL Cup tie against Manchester United after the draw was made last month.
The Sky Bet League One side welcome United to the Sixfields Stadium on Wednesday for their third round encounter - live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7.30pm - aiming to inflict a fourth straight defeat on the Red Devils.
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Mentioning the visit of Jose Mourinho's star-studded side was prohibited by Page immediately after the draw was made almost four weeks ago, with total focus given to prolonging the club's long unbeaten record.
The Cobblers were actually beaten on Saturday by Page's former club Chesterfield - a first loss in 32 league matches - and he is keen to see his players address the mistakes they made at the Proact Stadium against United.
He said: "We've been looking forward to this fixture since the draw was made. As a player, coach or manager this is why you play the game. You want to be involved in big games against the biggest sides and this game certainly falls into that category.
"But I banned the players from talking about it as we had to focus on the league game in hand.
"I didn't want to take the focus off the league campaign and we've had two wins since the draw was made and some great results in the league, which has been our focus.
"We've got the weekend out of the way now. It was a disappointing result for us so we need to put things right from the weekend and get back the aspects of our game that were missing, which we've had for most of the other matches so far this season.
"We need to make sure we've addressed it ready for Wednesday because, whatever side Manchester United put out, it will be very difficult for us."
Northampton were saved from going into administration less than 12 months ago by current owner Kelvin Thomas before going on to win the League Two title.
Page, who was appointed as Chris Wilder's successor in the summer, added: "After the 12 months that we've had, borderline administration, looking forward to a game against Manchester United in this level of the cup competition is great for the club as a whole.
"We know we're in for a tough test on Wednesday, irrespective of what players he [Mourinho] puts on the pitch we know we're up against quality - can't influence that.
"We've got to prepare right and get ourselves in the right frame of mind and worry about what we can do to them."
