We sat down with Under-18s coach Mark Yeates this week and previewed his side’s FA Youth Cup clash against Premier League side Liverpool, which will take place on Tuesday at Highbury under the lights.
As the Young Cods do going into every game, they will aim to work together to get the best result possible, and Yeates said that nothing will change in the build-up to his massive clash against one of the biggest sides in the country in the Third Round of this year’s FA Youth Cup.
In previous rounds, our Under-18s have shown how good they can be as they managed to beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 at the DW Stadium in the opening stage of the tournament before heading over to face Morecambe at the Mazuma Stadium, where they walked away with a 2-1 win after a thoroughly impressive full-length performance.
Here’s what Mark had to say in his pre-match interview:
On the opportunity of playing a Premier League side…
“Like everyone around the football club, I’m really excited as, not only is it a big chance for the lads, but also for myself and Pondy [Nathan Pond] to go up against top coaches. I great as the club can show what it’s all about and show the teams at the top all the good work we do within our Academy setup here at Fleetwood.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have been here a few years now and we’ve had some good ones already, and so far, this another one of those brilliant stories. There are still plenty of boys in the squad that played in last year’s cup run so they’re under no illusions as to what they are going to come up against on Tuesday.
“We will be coming up against a good quality opposition who have some top individual talents and I think a lot of people up and down the country know that they’ve got some good boys in there. The lads just have to approach the game in a sense that I want them to enjoy it, take it all in, but also go and have a go and give a good account of themselves.”
On the mentality the lads need to show on Tuesday...
“It’s eleven against eleven and we’ve seen on numerous occasions, across plenty of tournaments, that we’ve got the underdog mentality and teams like that can go and cause an upset, we’ve got to keep drilling that into the lads as we are really looking forward to the occasion as it’s a top game for the boys to get to play in.
“I want the lads to go out there and enjoy working hard because there are going to be big spells in the game where they are going to do that. They’ll have to dig in for each other, and be compact, and I want them to enjoy doing those things and to constantly be in that tough environment. Then, we can focus on the attacking threats that we’ve got in our team.
“When we get the opportunity to go the other way, can we go and exploit and take the chances that might come along with them? I want them to approach this like they do every game, with the mentality that they want to stick up for each other and show all the non-negotiables of what this football club is about.”
To watch Yeates’ full interview leading up to the game against the Reds, you can either click the link HERE or head over to our official iFollow page on our website to see the in-depth thoughts going into the clash.