Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton confident ahead of Charlton Athletic test
Fleetwood Town manager Joey Barton reckons that everyone in his squad is buying into their ‘SAS mindset’ – as they get ready to try and put a dent in Charlton.
The Cod Army have won their last three League One matches and kept clean sheets in all of them.
But Charlton are in even better form with five straight victories and have not conceded in more than nine hours.
Callum Camps and Paddy Madden netted as Barton’s men beat Oxford 2-0 at the weekend.
“When you come out of the week with nine points and you look at the block of games, you always have aspirations to move up the table albeit we know how difficult it is,” said Barton.
“To get three wins in a row can really shoot you up the table. To have that solid foundation of being able to keep a clean sheet – you look at Charlton and they’ve won at Portsmouth 2-0 and beat Oxford 2-0. We watched the Oxford one as preparation – really, really good side coming out of the Championship last season.
“They’ve lost a few bodies and key components but Lee Bowyer has done a great job there and they already look up and running in terms of trying to kickstart their return to Championship football.
“It’s another tough fixture for us but the mood we’re in at the moment I believe that iron sharpens iron. That’s where the strongest steel is forged – in the hottest fires.
“We go to a fellow promotion team on Tuesday night. They are in good fettle, we’re in good fettle – so we’re really, really looking forward to the test.
“We keep talking about this SAS mindset; whoever’s selected to do the job – that’s your responsibility. It’s to support the man in the shirt and make sure he has got everything he needs to deliver a performance.
“That comes from the players. It’s something as coaching staff you want to instil in your dressing room but the buy-in comes from every single man in there.
“The skipper does a tremendous job the way he controls the group and makes sure there is a really close bond between the grey shirts – which is what they call the coaching staff – and the red shirts, the lads who are playing.
“When you’ve got that healthy relationship and really good communication right across the board it makes it easier for people to accept the team selections.”
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