Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Duff: It would be biggest upset ever
Robins manager hoping to make history with Cheltenham win over Pep’s City
MICHAEL Duff believes that Cheltenham Town will make FA Cup history if they pull off a monumental shock against Manchester City this evening.
The Robins face the Premier League club for the first time in the fourth round, with the knockout mismatch seeing the Sky Bet League Two promotion-chasers sitting 72 places below six-time winners City.
Pep Guardiola’s heavyweights head to the Jonny Rocks Stadium unbeaten in 16 games across all competitions – having not conceded a goal in their last five – and Duff knows the task Cheltenham face.
“This would be the biggest upset in cup history, just because of their dominance against Premier League teams,” he said.
“One of their players’ wages for the week would probably pay our whole payroll for a couple of months, but that’s football. There are always the haves and the have nots.
“Their form has been off the charts. You need a lot of luck, players to play out of their skin and City to have a real off day. It was a massive shock when we (Burnley, in Duff’s playing days) beat them and we were in the same league.”
Duff insisted the Robins will do all they can to make Guardiola’s side comfortable in Gloucestershire and will not try any tricks to gain an edge.
“They’ll be getting changed in a bar, we’ll make it as hospitable as we can and the one thing they will like is the pitch. You are not going to get a Ronnie Radford scene where it’s a ploughed field,” he said. “They will be able to play – we won’t be training on it to make it as bad as possible.
“We do pride ourselves on playing
good football, we are not going to ruin the pitch for this one-off.”
As well as his playing career, there is a personal connection for Duff, who lived in Manchester during his 12 years at Burnley after joining from Cheltenham in 2004.
Sons Tommy and Jack were both born there with Tommy, 12, a City fan, while Jack, 10, supports United.
“It’s a double-edged sword, they are buzzing for the game but gutted they can’t be there,” he said. “They are both Mancs, they are not glory hunters. You can see Old Trafford from the room they were born in.
“One has decided City and one has decided United.
“They are on online school lessons and meetings and that’s all they talk about, we just hope the club can do them proud.”
Duff is also confident goalkeeper Josh Griffiths can recover from conceding a freak goal against his opposite number in the midweek match with Newport.
Tom King’s wind-assisted goal kick – now recognised as a world record for the longest goal scored – bounced in during the 1-1 draw on Tuesday, but Duff believes the 19-year-old, on loan from West Brom, will be fine facing City.
He said: “One of Josh’s strongest attributes is his mentality.
“A lot of young goalkeepers are anxious, want to get involved and show how good they are.
“It (conceding a goalkeeper from a goalkeeper) doesn’t happen very often, but it’s happened to him.
That’s why he’s here, to make those mistakes for us rather than his parent club so that when he goes back, hopefully it won’t happen.”
Cheltenham’s task has become marginally less difficult with the news that Kevin De Bruyne will not feature this evening.
City boss Guardiola once more lamented the strain placed on his players by the volume of football this season after revealing De Bruyne will be sidelined for up to six weeks.
The Belgian limped off in the 2-0 midweek win over Aston Villa that briefly sent City to the top of the Premier League, and scans have revealed the playmaker is set for a spell on the sidelines.
“The doctor said we’ll review the scan, which we’ve done, and it will be between four and six weeks out,”
Guardiola said. “It is a big blow, but we have to move forward. He is out for an important part of the season. We must find a solution as everyone is struggling and we have to adapt.”
The Spanish supremo renewed his criticism of the workload put on players as well as bemoaning the decision by Premier League clubs to reject allowing five substitutions to be made per match.
“To demand they are fit for 11 months playing every three days is impossible,” Guardiola said. “There have been injuries at all the clubs.
“The players don’t want to get injured, but there are injuries. When we demand five substitutions, it’s for this reason. Why can we do it in the FA Cup but the Premier League we cannot? There are too many games and the players suffer.”