Our new manager, Brian Laws just four days into the role talks about the baptism of fire he is about to have today as he plots how to get something from the match against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Laws seems to be playing a little bit of reverse psychology as he prepares to face up to Sir Alex Ferguson and the current Premier League Champions.
“Nobody expects us to go and get anything other than ourselves and our supporters. That`s why we`re not under that pressure. Any pressure seems to be transferred onto Manchester United. We have already beaten them once – dare we go there and do it again?” Laws said.
He also seems to be relishing the fact we are playing Manchester United rather than one of the clubs fighting with us to avoid the drop.The latter would have been more high pressure for him since that would be more of a must win game.
He states:
‘It`s a dream start.I was seriously delighted it was Manchester United.When you look at it realistically, if the next game had been Portsmouth – and I`m using Portsmouth as a yardstick – I think that would have been more of a pressure game for me to come into because that`s a must-win game. The games we need to win around us are more important. This one is a no-brainer. It`s a great one to go to.’
Most Clarets fans are eager to know what approach Laws will take today. What will be his team selection? Will he be changing things around and playing a different style of football to that we were used to under Coyle? What will his tactics and formation be and will he have a Plan B if things start going ‘tits-up’ against the Red Devils?
Well we can perhaps gauge from his comments what sort of approach we can expect and it would appear he will be playing it safe to begin with and wont be making too many changes if any. That is perhaps to be expected after just four days trying to become familiar with the players and their style of play.
“I still want the same approach, I still want the players to go out there and play good football. I don`t want to snuff it out, stated Laws.
“There`s nothing broken here. I`ve told the players we`re not here to all of a sudden revolutionise everything and change everything. I think that would be the worst thing you could ever do. They are good players and I wouldn`t want to suppress their confidence or the way they want to approach games. I might be putting the reins on a little bit but I won`t be pulling on them too hard. It only needs tweaking here and there.”
It would appear that today despite the opposition being Manchester United on their home turf, we are not going to see too many changes to the eighteen we have been used to seeing selected by Owen Coyle.
Although the new gaffer has been watching plenty of DVDS of our past games, he probably feels he needs a live baseline in which to judge what if anything might need changing.
He certainly could not have been given a stronger test than the opposition today and all Clarets fans will be wishing him well in trying against all the odds to achieve our first away win of the season in the League. Clarets fans will of course be over the moon if we could rock the football establishment and secure our first double of the season against non other than Manchester United. Come on you Clarets!
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