Head coach Scott Brown spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon ahead of his side’s first home clash of the season against Cambridge United and previewed the fixture.
It’s been a mixed start for Fleetwood Town in the opening two games as they picked up their first point on the road against Carlisle United in the opener, after Brendan Wiredu’s wonder strike, but they fell to defeat in Round One of the Carabao Cup against Port Vale last time out.
With the home crowd finally back behind the team at Highbury, Brown and his boys will be hoping to change their course for the better, by getting the first win of the campaign against the U’s on Saturday afternoon.
Here’s what the gaffer had to say in his interview:
On being back at home this weekend…
“In terms of Cambridge’s start, the first game against Oxford is more important to me. They’re solid defensively, as they won 2-0, they want to sit back in and are tidy on the ball. We need to make sure we are ready and organised as this weekend is all about us.
“We’ve done all right at Highbury so far; we’ve managed three clean sheets and a 1-0 win as well but for us, we need to make sure we go out and score more goals, but also need to make sure we keep in the same mind to carry on the run of clean sheets at home.
“It’s got to be good and entertaining football as you want to make sure you bring the fans along with you – you want to win games for them. We want to make Highbury a hard place for teams to come and we did that last season.”
On losing out shape in the Vale cup clash…
“After watching the games, I’ve felt we’ve been in control of them and have enjoyed watching the lads play. We were in control of possession for large periods in the week, locked them out quite well, but then went and lost three goals through mistakes.
“The only thing that disappointed me was when we lost the first goal at Port Vale in the week, we lost our shape and discipline. That was a hard one to take because that is what we’ve worked on all through pre-season and the lads just did to do their own thing.
“It’s hard to maintain a game plan for 45 minutes each half, or 59 which we have been playing so far this season. You have to keep your concentration, but we’re a young group of players and managers so there will be mistakes, but it’s important they go out and do their jobs.”
On the added time and potential additions…
“As it stands now, we are looking at a centre-half, a midfielder, and a striker so we are still looking at boosting the squad and I think that’s important due to the new added time rules. It’s a lot of time and a lot of extra games throughout the season which will add to the lads’ running power during games.
“The lads are doing over 12k in most games now, and the ball is in play for an extra six to seven minutes in both halves, so it’s important that we have that squad rotation. We’ve seen it in the past that the lads have died a death after three games – we need to make sure our stats are high.
“The extra time is a lot because you are asking the lads to concentrate and focus for a lot longer each week. It’s a lot of minutes that’s building up on the lads and it is hard for them, we have to get around that mental side as it’s part of the rules now.”