Head coach Joey Barton sat down and answered all questions from the press on Thursday afternoon ahead of Fleetwood Town’s Carabao Cup tie against Wigan Athletic.
The Cod Army were last in action on Tuesday as they managed to beat Carlisle United 3-1 in the EFL Trophy at Brunton Park, with goals coming from Callum Camps and Harvey Saunders on the night.
Joey Barton’s side are set to welcome The Latics to Highbury Stadium on Saturday for Round One of the Carabao Cup.
Here is what Joey had to say in his pre-match press conference:
On Saturday’s cup tie…
“All we can do is prepare our boys for the game and, if we focus on us, we will have a good chance of getting a good result.
“You have to focus on yourselves and make sure you are the best version of you. We have a good idea about Wigan, we won’t going in the dark.
“Obviously we want to beat them on Saturday, but we hope that they can get sorted out because nobody at that football club deserves what has happened to them. Your heart goes out to them and hopefully it turns round for them.”
On the return of competitive football…
“We’ve been really pleased with how everyone has approached it. Tuesday night was the first competitive game of the season and I thought the lads acquitted themselves really well.
“It would have been nice for the new keeper and the two young defenders to start off with a clean sheet but, I thought they were positive in the way they played the game.
“I thought everyone who played should be please with their performances and hopefully they can do that again on Saturday against Wigan.
On giving younger players opportunities…
“An opportunity presented itself to some of the younger players on Tuesday, due to the nature of the squad we currently have, and they showed what they could do.
“When the kids play as well as they did, it makes you think ‘who knows?’. We were all young players once wanting an opportunity and you’ve got to make the most of it and take it.”