Curle: Carlisle United embracing Anfield visit

The League Two outfit are hoping to follow up victories over League One's Chesterfield and Championship side QPR in previous rounds by claiming a Premier League scalp in the form of the Reds.

And, though Curle admits his players will be nervous as they step out onto the pitch, he is excited by the prospect of them showing what they can do at such a famous arena.

Read on for a full Q&A with the Cumbrian club's manager...

It's great game for the fans and players but what about the manager? How are you approaching this cup tie?

I'm making sure that it's not a distraction in any way, shape or form, likewise we're not hiding away from it as a football club. We're embracing it and I think that's what we've done with the players as well. It's a fantastic achievement for the players to beat Chesterfield at home and then QPR away and they've got their rewards now to visit Anfield to play Liverpool.

You often hear in these cup ties that teams should 'play the game, not the occasion', is that in your thoughts or do you go there and hope for the best?

You don't just hope for the best, you've got to go there and have a plan, which we have. It was interesting reading Brendan Rodgers saying Anfield can be a nervy place for some [of his] players but, let me tell you, my players will be nervous as hell before the game! They were nervous at QPR in front of 5,000 people, so imagine what they're going to be like playing at Anfield, against Liverpool, in front of 40,000 people. It's absolutely phenomenal for them so it'll be interesting to see how my players react.

You played there lots of times there for Manchester City, what are your memories of the Anfield atmosphere?

I spent most of my time chasing Ian Rush! That wasn't easy. I have fantastic memories, I think I went there first of all with Wimbledon and I think when we got there we got some favourable results against Liverpool. As a spectacle, we destroyed the game because we couldn't compete with Liverpool football-wise. We went there with a gameplan to spoil the game and make it unattractive but we got results. If we go there on Wednesday thinking that we're going to out-football Liverpool, it won't happen. If you play for Liverpool there's a reason why, and the reason is usually because you're a very good footballer. What we need to do with our gameplan is we have to make it more of a League Two game that will suit our players hopefully more than the Liverpool players.

How difficult does it make the plans for you in that you probably won't know what kind of Liverpool team you'll be facing?

We watched the European team, we've been watching U21 games as well and everybody will have been glued to the TV on Sunday to watch the Norwich game. Can you second guess [the team]? No. If you put on a Liverpool shirt and you turn up on Wednesday, you are a good player. No matter what team Brendan selects, they will be a formidable opposition. The difficulty for those players is identifying who they're playing against because in relative terms we've got some very good players for [League Two] standard, that some of the Liverpool players won't know. I would say don't disrespect them because they are very good professionals that want to play the game in the right way and we will be very competitive.