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Interviews

Barton: We will be a tough challenge for them

18 December 2020

Interviews

Barton: We will be a tough challenge for them

18 December 2020

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Head coach Joey Barton spoke to the press ahead of his side's Sky Bet League One clash against Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Town head into the game against The Latics on a three-game unbeaten streak. Last time out, Fleetwood managed to keep the back door shut and earn a point at Fratton Park against Portsmouth, with wins against local rivals Blackpool in the Papa John's Trophy and Swindon Town in the league coming before that. 

Here's what the Gaffer had to say:

On the opposition…

“They will know that we will be a tough challenge for them in our park, but they will want to respond. They’ve got a lot of people who are getting opportunities but, obviously, it didn’t work for them on Tuesday night.

“With no fans in the stadium, they will be able to move past it quite quickly. The club is in a bad place but it’s just a bad day in the office, let’s move onto the next one. They will want to show that their game on Tuesday was an anomaly.

“All you have to do is look at the 4-3 against Accrington and their performance against Sunderland, they will have some confidence and I think that it’s our job, as the home side, to take that away from them.

“We’ll be as we are. Right out the gates, trying to establish our control and principles, and play towards a Wigan side that will be trying to get themselves back going after a tough evening. They will be competitive as they have been in every fixture so far this season, barring Tuesday night.”

On getting back to it at Highbury…

“Beating Blackpool on pens in the cup was a nice way to get over them beating us in the league and, obviously, we’ve had two away games since then that the lads have been superb in.

“We are looking forward to getting back to winning ways at Highbury. We won on Saturday, almost won late on in the Tuesday game but at this stage, it’s all about trying to take maximum points.

“They are a side sitting in the bottom four, with the turmoil they have got in the club, and the result that they’ve come off the back of, I think we would be naïve if our lads weren’t looking at it thinking this is the type of game we need to win if we are serious about being in the promotion race.

“These are the side we’ve been quite good at knocking off at our stadium and we’ve got to be on it for 90 plus minutes to make sure we get maximum points on Saturday.”


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