‘WE DAREN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT CITY’
NIGEL CLOUGH has banned himself from talking about Manchester City in training – to stop his Burton players being scared to death.
League One Burton travel to the Premier League champions tonight in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Fans fears a hammering, especially after City put seven past Rotherham in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Not that boss Clough has been dwelling on City’s strong points too much.
He said: “People say, ‘What are you going to be talking to the players about?’ The answer is nothing.
“We cannot send them out with too much detail. We will send them out to have a go.
“There’s no point in going into detail because it would shake them even more. “We all watch Match of the Day. We could end up scaring them half to death. “Their keeper is so good with his feet, he could play centre midfield for us. If Aguero, Sterling and
Silva don’t play they bring in De Bruyne and Mahrez, Jesus or whoever, so that’s the difference.
“Playing them in a big semi-final is a bit of a fairytale and in every game you have a chance – it’s just that ours is extremely slim.
“What we will try to do is focus on doing our jobs and hope that City have a terrible night.”
Respect
Clough may be trying to keep his players in the dark but City boss Pep Guardiola has done his homework on the Brewers, who are 52 places below them in the league ladder.
“When you arrive in the semi-final stage, first you have to respect the opponents and try to know them,” said the City boss.
“Yesterday I had never watched one game but I watched one this morning and this afternoon. I will see another with my analyst. When big clubs have a chance to win a final they don’t have doubts.
“My experience from previous clubs is when you have chance to reach a final you take it.”