Oxford United boss Pep Clotet takes charge of the U’s for his very first FA Cup tie on Friday night when his side travel to Vale Park to take on Port Vale.
“It’s a very tough tie” United’s Spanish boss told iFollow today. “The cup gives everyone a new opportunity and right now we feel we are making good strides forward and we want to put the bad result we had at the weekend behind us.
“Obviously it is going to be very hard because before they lost at the weekend Port Vale had won three games in a row. They are strong, they have a good intensity and are good going forward. We are expecting a physical game as well and the cup is always a million miles an hour
“But I see all our players wanting to be involved and wanting to make progress in a different competition. It gives you different things to think about and we have been very positive about it this week.”
That intensity means that Pep is unlikely to make too many changes when it comes to naming his side.
“We have a very good set of players who work very hard to keep everyone on their toes and that keeps the level very high” he said. “I know everyone wants to be involved on Friday night but for us we want to make progress and have the same approach as we have in the league so I don’t expect to make too many changes.
“Gino van Kessel is a still a week or so away, Dwight Tiendalli made his comeback last week and has trained fine. Rob Hall is ready for selection and RIcardinho is very close. Maybe if we are cautious I won’t select him but injury wise he will be very close to being available, so we are in good shape.”
See the full interview plus the thoughts of Joe Rothwell, exclusively in iFollow now.