Chris Wilder looks ahead to Barnet
United go into the FA Cup tomorrow at Barnet looking to come through a tough all League 2 tie at Underhill. While fans on both sides will be dreaming of a cup run this season Manager Chris Wilder is focussed purely on the task in front of him on Saturday:
“All we are interested in is progression on Saturday and being in the hat on Sunday afternoon” he told Yellow Player. “We are not looking at the third round or going anywhere else, just getting the job done on Saturday and getting through the tie.”
United will have Lee Cox available, as his loan from Swindon allows him to play in the FA Cup, but defender Johnny Mullins and midfielder Jake Forster-Caskey are not eligible under the terms of their loans from Rotherham and Brighton respectively
“Coxy can play, Jake and Johnny can’t” Chris said. “We won’t make too many changes because I was happy with the vast majority of the play at Wycombe last Saturday. We gave the ball away a little bit too cheaply at times but we had a good shape and desire, backed by yet another fantastic vocal following and that will be the case on Saturday. Hopefully we have turned a little bit of a corner in terms of performances. We are getting a consistent selection and consistent performances and hopefully now can start picking up consistent results.”
Playing a side from your own division presents a different challenge to taking on non-league opposition or playing the underdogs to a higher ranked team, but knowing what you are facing is something that Chris believes can work to his side’s advantage:
“Barnet have had a couple of wins, they went up to Chesterfield last week and won, so we won’t be underestimating them in any shape or form. We know what we are going into, which is good. There are a lot of clubs going into games on Saturday against teams who they haven’t a clue how they are going to play or what it’s going to be about. So at least we know where we are going and what we are up against. And if we show the same as we have shown in the last month then I am sure we can progress.”
See the whole interview, plus a video with former FA Cup finalist Tony Capaldi in Yellow Player now. Try it for FREE on a 14 day free trial, and listen to the whole Barnet game live…