Manchester United Vs Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has insisted all the pressure is on Manchester United as the two teams prepare to clash at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

United enter the Carling Cup straight in at the third round stage, while Middlesbrough have already hammered Yeovil Town 5-1 in the competition.

Southgate was disappointed to draw United and will not tolerate claims from some quarters that his side should be expected to win the game.

There had been suggestions at Southgate’s press conference today that due to United’s likeliness to rest a number of key players on Tuesday, ‘Boro should be achieving a positive result at Old Trafford.

But Southgate insists that United will have a strong team, whoever is put on to the pitch by club manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"When I looked at their squad it was Nani, Giggs, Ronaldo, Tevez, O'Shea, Vidic [who did not start against Chelsea], so it still looks decent to me, so I would have said there is in fact very little pressure on us,” he told the press.

"It is a good time to face them, but you've got to be conscious of their quality,” Southgate stated.

"I wouldn't imagine too many of the side that played at Chelsea will play against us but by my reckoning that still left them with about 10 internationals when I was writing a possible team down.

"I think they will be strong, there will be players Sir Alex will want to give a game to and he'll want to beat us so we've got to be prepared to face what could well be a star-studded line-up."

Southgate was also quick to praise Ferguson, a man who Southgate says all the Premier League’s managers look up to and respect.

"Sir Alex is obviously the person all other managers look up to for what he's achieved and his continued hunger to keep achieving, his phenomenal drive about him as a person,” he said.

"He'll be logical about the position they're in at the moment but wanting them to win matches and he'll want to start against us."

Despite winning the Premier League in the last two seasons and the Champions League in May, United’s recent performances in the domestic cups have not been up to their usual standards.

The Red Devils have won just one FA Cup and one Carling Cup since the turn of the millennium, having won four FA Cup’s and a League Cup in the previous decade.

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