'Break the curse' - Farke's 'big goal'

He talked of a club so used to making headlines it didn't need to act all big time. He talked of a club which was bullish and confident after a decent start to Premier League life, to now show a quiet humility. He talked of a club, so often with its back against the wall, not requiring its leader to deliver motivational speeches to his players.

This apparent ambiguity from Daniel Farke came in his first press conference following the disappointing finale to the summer transfer market, which the club's managing director Robbie Evans admitted had been a bad day to end a good window.

Farke, with his usual candour, told the media the non-appearance of a number 10 hardly had him dancing on the table but that he would "adapt to the reality".

"My job is to get the best out of these players. Do not be too arrogant," he told us at Thursday's media gathering.

Farke added: "Do our job and concentrate on what we can influence which is to win as many points as possible to prove the doubters wrong."

Here the message was anything but mixed. It was clear that he and his players require no extra motivation to survive, to defy the odds as he feels "all, if not 99 per cent of the pundits" are tipping United for the drop.

"No fighting messages from me", said Farke on how he communicates with his group.

"They need a manager who is concentrated on making the players better and on backing the players who are there. That is what I will do."

After 30 minutes of being asked to reflect on events over which he now has no influence it was clear where Farke's immediate focus was - how to beat Fulham on Saturday. As for the bigger mission, the message was equally unequivocal. There will be no better feeling than to stop the fate of recently promoted clubs from repeating.

"If we can be the first team to break the curse, this is the big target and the big goal," Farke added.

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