Fleetwood Town head coach Scott Brown spoke to the media ahead of Wednesday night's Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round tie away at high-flying Championship side Burnley.
In his first season in charge of the Cods, he has guided them to their first time in the fourth round, and fifth round, of the FA Cup but he puts this down completely to the work rate and determination of the players in his group. In the last round, Town managed to overcome promotion-chasing Sheffield Wednesday as they broke their 22-game unbeaten streak to continue in the competition.
Here’s what the gaffer had to say in his interview:
On the challenge Town will face in the cup…
“It’s an exceptional game to look forward to; first time in the fifth round against the Championship leaders that play unbelievable possession-based football consistently. They always have high intensity and look to lock you in by putting you under pressure so we are looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s going to be a different challenge, but the lads have got to go out there and enjoy it because it’s phenomenal what they’ve done so far this season in this competition and anything that happens after this is a bonus. For us, we’ve just got to enjoy the moment, and play as well as we can, but not go out there and defend for 90 minutes.
“They are a possession-based team, so we’ve got to go there with a game plan and when we do have the ball during the game, we’ve got to be calm, make the right decisions at the right time, whilst also having that willingness to run in behind and cause them problems too.”
On Vincent Kompany and his style…
“Vincent has got them working so hard; the big thing for me is that they flow together, as when you watch them, there isn’t one person out of place at one time as they all move together as a team. They lock teams in, start moves from the back and even have their goalkeeper up in an advanced position to help stop counter attacks so they can stay up the field.
“They are willing to do all this work as they put seven in the box, two on the edge and have the goalie on the halfway line for corners. This shows that he’s trying to bring a different method into the Championship and already has that Pep Guardiola aura about him as well as he’s got that willingness to win week in, week out.”
On the Ipswich influence and the players’ motivation…
“We went away to Ipswich and start poorly in the first 10 minutes of the game, but then we competed very well. For us to go and put up a draw against this team that held Burnley at their place and forced them into a close game at Turf Moor as well, we’ve got to take a lot from that.
“We’ve got to go and watch those games back, which we have done, and get an understanding of how they’ve played. We know that our lads have worked hard throughout this competition, they’re also honest and come into training with a smile on their faces looking to better themselves so we can’t ask any more of them.
“To get into the fifth round of the cup for the first time in the club’s history, that’s all on them and not on us, it shows how much they want to win. The lads want to learn constantly and know how to win games 1-0 and defend for long periods of time against Championship teams, which we will have to do, as they have some fantastic players.”
Supporters can now watch the full interview live on iFollow!