Head coach Joey Barton spoke to the press at Poolfoot Farm on Thursday afternoon ahead of his side's Sky Bet League One clash against Sunderland.
Barton – who saw his side beat Sunderland in the Papa John’s Trophy two weeks ago – has recently guided his side to two consecutive wins in the league, scoring nine goals in those games against Bristol Rovers and Plymouth Argyle respectively.
Here is what the gaffer had to say ahead of the game:
On the opposition…
“They’ve started solidly again and have got a very low xG on shots against them. They have just gone on a little bit of an iffy spell, getting beaten by Mansfield [Town] and MK [Dons], and Donny [Doncaster Rovers] scored a late goal against them last time out but, they will be competitive – Phil’s [Parkinson] always are.
“They’ve got good players, big expectations because of the size of their football club but they will be a wounded animal, due to their recent results. It will be a very tough game for us, they will fancy their chances and won’t be worrying about coming to Fleetwood and we look forward to that challenge.
“We’re in a slot where we are happy to play anyone and we’ve played most of the sides in the division now and every game is an opportunity for us to learn something new about our team.”
On the team’s driving force…
“We’ve got a benchmark to challenge ourselves here. We don’t have to get promoted whereas the likes of Sunderland, Ipswich and Hull do because they shouldn’t be in this division.
“In Fleetwood, we have to be competitive and even though our owner wants us to win every game because he is ambitious and wants to push on but he is also realistic and knows exactly what is going on here.
“We are developing the Academy and driving other things so We want to win every game and want to sit at the top of the pile and we think that we have a legitimate spot of being one of those teams along with probably eight or nine others who all fancy their chances.”