Barnsley v Norwich City - Honest approach proves a winning formula for Cauley Woodrow

Barnsley’s Cauley Woodrow has spent much of his footballing life surrounded by excellence, and coach Valerien Ismael’s insatiable drive for it means there will be no taking it easy in the FA Cup this afternoon.
Barnsley's Cauley Woodrow.  Picture Tony JohnsonBarnsley's Cauley Woodrow.  Picture Tony Johnson
Barnsley's Cauley Woodrow. Picture Tony Johnson

Championship leaders Norwich City made eight team changes in round three and may do similar at Oakwell but apart from “cup goalkeeper” Brad Collins coming into the side and Carlton Morris being cup-tied, the Reds are expected to be at full tilt.

Having won domestic cups with Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Strasbourg, Ismael will accept nothing less. “He wants to win all the time,” says Woodrow, who used to play Sunday league football and travel to training at Tottenham Hotspur’s academy with best friend, then-neighbour and now-England international Harry Winks.

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“It doesn’t matter if it’s a cup game or a league game, we take it exactly the same.
He wants us to win, we want to win and we’ll take it just like it’s Norwich in the Championship.”

As a youngster at Fulham, Woodrow made almost as many starts in the cups as the league (12-17), but as Barnsley’s No 9 he will not get a rest today, nor does he want one.

“Sometimes Championship teams don’t play their starting teams but we went out against Tranmere (Rovers in round three) with a full-strength XI and that was against a team in a lower division to us but we beat them and that’s exactly what the manager wants,” he points out.

“He’s massive on professionalism, not taking your foot off (the gas).

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“Sometimes with managers you can get away with things but with him there’s none of that.

“He’s very straight, very honest.

“Not just as footballers, in any walk of life you want people to be honest with you. We embrace that as players and look to learn from him and listen as much as we can.

“You don’t get anywhere without working hard, it’s not luck. It doesn’t really exist in football. If you’re sloppy, you’re going to perform sloppily.

“If you’re on it every single day, working hard and listening, the performances tend to show that over the course of the season. I think that’s what we’ve done well this season.

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“We’re doing as well as we can, giving 110 per cent every game.

“At Fulham when I was young I played with a lot of international players who played 400 or 500 Premier League games and what stuck out was that players who had been at big clubs, had great careers, they don’t get there by luck, it’s how they train every single day, their mentality.”

Luke Thomas and Elliot Simoes were loaned out this month with damning assessments of their mindsets, but Woodrow insists Ismael is no dictator.

“He’s not just a stubborn manager but he’s very clear in what he wants,” he comments.

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“It’s worked because we’ve had good results and we’re in a position in the table which is massively improved from last season.

“I wouldn’t say it’s completely ‘my way or the highway’ but he’s very professional.”

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