"Cup competitions can give us momentum" says United coach
After a terrific league win at Rochdale, Oxford United come home for two big cup games as they take on Bradford City on Tuesday night in the Checkatrade Trophy and then Newcastle United on Saturday in the Emirates FA Cup.
First team coach Derek Fazackerly believes the cup competitions can help the U’s in much the same way that a win over Swansea in the FA Cup and a Wembley final in the Trophy did last season:
“The cup competitions gave us momentum last year” he told Yellow Player HD “and there is the possibility they could do that again this year. First we have a difficult game against Bradford, then we can look forward to the game against Newcastle.
“It would have made a fantastic final against Bradford with the two highest placed teams still in it. But we managed to beat Bradford earlier in the season in what was a very tight game. Since then their form has been good and they are one of the top three or four teams in the division. Their focus, like Newcastle, might be the automatic promotion places but the opportunity to play at Wembley is massive for every player and something they won’t want to give up easily I’m sure.
“The competition has been good for us. It has given us an opportunity to use players that maybe haven’t had too much football and when they have come in they have performed well and put other players under pressure. That is precisely what you want when you are in the situation we are in at the moment.”
Saturday’s game against Newcastle will see ‘Faz’ up against a club where he enjoyed tremendous success alongside Kevin Keegan:
“I had six years up there and four were very special. It’s a fantastic football club. We had success there, taking them from the lower reaches of the Championship into the Premier League and into Europe. It was a fantastic experience.
“It’s a different set up in terms of players and staff but it hasn’t changed as a club. They still have magnificent fans and a great stadium and training facilities. It’s a club with huge potential and from a footballing perspective I’m sure getting back into the Premier League will be their main priority.
“But for every club in the FA Cup it’s a great day for the fans and we will be hoping to replicate what we did against Swansea; put in a good performance and hope it can get us a result.”
See the full interview plus exclusives with Ryan Taylor and new signing Toni Martinez, only in Yellow Player HD