In the Hot Seat: Gareth Southgate - Middlesbrough

Gareth Southgate has good memories of the Carling Cup as he lifted the trophy as Middlesbrough's skipper back in 2004. That victory over Bolton still remains the club’s only major honour and Southgate’s troops are in need of a fillip after Saturday's defeat to Sunderland. That defeat stretched their winless away run in the Premier League to 11 games and with a trip to Manchester United on the horizon tonight it doesn't get any easier.

However, Southgate refuses to be daunted by the prospect of tonight’s trip to Old Trafford and is drawing inspiration from Portsmouth's run to FA Cup glory last year, which saw them beat the Red Devils on their own patch. And Southgate admits they will have to overcome major obstacles if they are going to find their way to a major final once again and insists they should approach tonight's tie with gusto...

IS THIS A GAME TO FEAR CONSIDERING YOUR RECENT AWAY RECORD?
We have had some very good results at Old Trafford and some good performances and that would be the mindset again We don't fear going into any game, the confidence is still in the team to play, we know we are a threat on the break, we know we are a threat going forward and the shape of the team away from home. We've got to play as we did at Sunderland on Saturday and be prepared to keep the ball and attack Manchester United.

I TAKE IT BY YOUR COMMENTS THAT YOU STILL REGARD THE LEAGUE CUP AS AN IMPORTANT COMPETITION?
It's an important competition; it's one we want to win. We've been given the toughest possible draw. It's a great draw for us as a club in terms of the profile of the game and the finance involved in it, but we now have to go there and try to beat them. The fact is you have to beat at least one of the big boys on the way to winning a cup competition. Even Portsmouth, who maybe had good draws last year, had to beat United away to get to the final. If you look, most cup finalists have to win one big game on the way through. That's the challenge for us and in cup football anything can happen on the night.

IS THIS A GOOD TIME TO PLAY MANCHESTER UNITED AS THEY HAVE WON ONLY ONE OF THEIR OPENING SIX FIXTURES?
It is, but you've got to be conscious of their quality. 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 ten internationals when I was writing a possible team down. I think they will be strong, there will be players Sir Alex (Ferguson) 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.

HAVE YOU HAD TO HAVE A CHAT WITH STEWART DOWNING AFTER HE MISSED HIS SECOND PENALTY OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SUNDERLAND LAST WEEKEND?
Stewart's a very resilient boy and I know he was grateful for the reaction of the fans immediately after. Within football you get some great lessons in life dealing with disappointment. When you play at a level Stewart does the problems that are thrown at you and the things you have to deal with are that much greater. Good players put themselves into situations where the rewards are there if you're the hero, but the rewards can be massive if things go your way. You have to keep putting yourself up there to be shot at. He still wants to do that and he's got the support of everybody at this football club.

HOW DISAPPOINTING WAS THE DEFEAT TO SUNDERLAND LAST WEEKEND?
As a manager sometimes you've got to look at the bigger picture and say we did a lot of things right and if we continue to do that we'll get results. I have to say defeats hurt more when you don't perform but the players did everything we asked of them bar finishing Sunderland off and it's harder to take because it's a local derby - it's even more emotional for the fans.