My mantra is to focus on the next game
Burnley face Championship club Bristol City tomorrow in the FA Cup and that brings Lee Johnson to Turf Moor for the first time as a manager.
Bristol City were still under the management of former Burnley boss Steve Cotterill when we faced each other in the league last season, doing the double over them with a 2-1 win at Ashton Gate and a resounding 4-0 win at home which brought 2015 to an end.
Johnson had an immediate impact at Bristol City and they also started this season although things have not gone well for them in the league recently but he said: “I’m looking forward to going there to see if that release of pressure can help us play without fear.
“We’ll be the underdogs and it would be nice to play with a bit of freedom. We have to believe we can go there and beat Premier League opponents. Why not? We will give it our all to reach the next round of the FA Cup.
“Obviously you never know what will be in certain manager’s minds about selection in the cup. Sean will have his own thoughts and perhaps he could give a chance to those who haven’t been playing in the Premier League.
“We’ll be ready for whatever they bring. They’re a good, energetic side who are very strong at home. It’ll be a good test for our young team.”
Despite losing last week at Arsenal, Dyche said: “In the league we’ve been doing well and we are pleased with performances., but the players have shown a good mentality to these situations of changing from league to cup and on the back of the two performances against Sunderland, when I thought we were strong in both, we now take on Bristol City.
“We have to approach it in the right manner though. Despite the awkward run they have had in the league, we have to look after what we do and focus on giving a good performance. I’m aware of the opposition and everyone always gets suspicious of teams on bad runs, knowing they are going to come out of it. It’s our job to make sure that’s not the case.
“I thought they had a really good go at changing their fortunes against Forest in the last game and they are in the Championship for a reason. They are a decent club with a young manager continually looking to earn his spurs, so they are still a threat and we have to make sure we are ready, mentally and physically.”
In the last round, in both games, he made a number of changes and with the Leicester game coming up on Tuesday he is likely to do the same. “I mixed it up for the right reasons last time,” he said. “I set out a team I thought could win and it will be the same this weekend.”
“My mantra is to focus on the next game and we are well used to playing back-to-back games from our time in the Championship. So we just focus on Saturday and look for the outcome we want, then we’ll look at the Premier League game coming up.”
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