'I think they’ve been unfortunate' - Leicester City boss Russell Martin wary of threat from 'brave' Barnsley FC
Barnsley have beeen assessed by Leicester City boss Russell Martin ahead of his side’s trip to Oakwell
Leicester City head coach Russell Martin believes out-of-form Barnsley have been “unfortunate” across recent fixtures.
The Foxes are due to visit Oakwell tomorrow (September 19), looking to inflict a third consecutive league defeat upon the Reds. Barnsley were beaten 5-1 by Stevenage and 3-0 by Plymouth Argyle before exiting the Carabao Cup on penalties against Peterborough United on Tuesday (September 15).
Leicester have had problems of their own this season and the meeting will be between two clubs desperate to head into the international break on a high.
Russell Martin on ‘brave’ Barnsley
Barnsley’s recent results make for grim reading, yet Martin has been full of praise for Daniel Stendel’s side.
He said: “I’ve seen a lot of them - I watched them in midweek at Peterborough. I watched that live. Really front-footed, really aggressive, forward running, some really good attacking threat, some good individual players, and a team that works really, really hard.
“It’s not going to be an easy game at all, they’ll make it difficult for us. I’ve liked a lot of what they’ve done. I think they’ve been unfortunate in the last few games to be on the losing side to be honest, let alone the scores they’ve had.
“I’m sure Daniel, the manager, is feeling that way. But I have a lot respect for what they’re doing with a young team. They’re brave and they’re front-footed so we have to be really ready for that.”
Leicester City out to win
Martin’s men were 4-3 victors over Stockport County last week, alleviating some of the pressure that built after a dismal 4-0 loss to Oxford United.
The under-fire Foxes boss said: “I think we want go into it (the international break) with a good feeling. We want to win and we’ll feel better about ourselves in the break and the work that we do if we win.
“We’ll go there with a gameplan to try and win as we always will. It’s really important for us. We have a chance to win tomorrow, get points on the board that means our points tally over the last four or five games has been pretty good and consistent.
“We’ll keep getting better. We have to improve on a lot of things from last week but we have to show the same mentality.”