My mindset is to try and get to the final
Bournemouth are at Burnley tonight in the FA Cup but with one big change since we learned our opponents.
When Bournemouth beat Crawley to get through to this round it was under the management of our former assistant manager Jason Tindall, but some pressure from fans online, coupled with four successive defeats, saw him depart last week with Jonathan Woodgate now in temporary charge of the Cherries and being helped out by Harry Redknapp.
Woodgate will come up against Sean Dyche tonight and he’s dealt with him before when he was manager of Middlesbrough with Woodgate confirming he was someone he turned to for advice.
“He’d always give me advice, always speak to me on the phone, pick the phone up whenever. There was a time when Ben Gibson came to Middlesbrough last season and I spoke to him often on the phone as well. So he’s a really good guy, offered me great advice when I was managing. He was superb with me.
“That information will stay between me and him, but the information he gave me was very good and I still take it with me to this day.”
Moving on to tonight’s game, Woodgate added: “Credit where credit’s due, what he’s done with that Burnley team has been absolutely unreal to be honest with you, because he’s kept them in the league over the year and they’re a really good bunch of players.
“He has them playing well. 4-4-2 formation and when every team goes to Burnley, they know what they’re going to be in for, a difficult game. Sometimes he gets criticised but he just carries on and keeps Burnley in the Premier League.”
Woodgate is also aware of a threat to his team’s goal despite our lower return this season. He said: “I’ve watched Vydra throughout his career, I played against Rodriguez before and you’ve got Barnes who is probably one of the underrated forwards in the Premier League. He is a handful to play against. He closes from the front, he gives them that battling spirit.”
“The prowess, kudos and finance of being in the Premier League is so powerful now. That’s the business case, but fans, players and staff all still want to do well in the FA Cup and try to win it. Every team goes out with that intention, I’m sure, and my mindset is to try and get to the final and if something happens along the way that goes against us, that’s c’est la vie. But our real goal is to stay in the Premier League because that continues our growth as a club.
“We have real challenges this season with injuries and the game schedule. We have to manage our group and play all the games, and we have to balance that with the bigger challenge to make sure we remain productive in the coming games.”
With some injury problems we have no idea who will be fit but Dyche said: “No matter who is out there, it’s a game we want to win. The planning and the prep is still there and the players are still in tune with what we expect them to deliver. That doesn’t change whoever you play.”
Follow UpTheClarets:
Share this page :