TRAFFORD TALKS ADAPTING TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE

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Goalkeeper discusses his confidence growing and the upcoming trip to Villa Park

2023-12-30T11:00:00.000Z

TRAFFORD TALKS ADAPTING TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE

Goalkeeper discusses his confidence growing and the upcoming trip to Villa Park

2023-12-30T11:00:00.000Z

Goalkeeper discusses his confidence growing and the upcoming trip to Villa Park

James Trafford believes that both his own confidence and that of the squad's has increased in recent games as the goalkeeper prepares to travel to Aston Villa this weekend.

Whilst reflecting on recent performances, the 21-year-old talks working under Manager Vincent Kompany, adapting to the top-flight and the team's aims of getting better every day.

“It’s been tough [adapting to the Premier League]. There’s been a lot of tough games, you’re playing against a lot of good players, but I like to think I’ve grown and developed through the first half of the season.

“If you looked at me at the start of the season compared to now, it would be a lot different. But yes, I was under no illusions when I first came in that the Premier League was going to be tough and every day, we’re just trying to get better and learn.”

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With his confidence growing, the goalkeeper doesn't believe there was a particular turning point.

“I don’t really think you can pinpoint on one game. If you just look at a collection of performances, like I say the last three games compared to the first three games, then you can see a difference. I wouldn’t really put it down to one game.

"People say goalkeepers peak at, I don’t even know what age it is, but I know it’s a lot older than I am now.

“I just keep working hard every day with all the staff, the people in my close circle, trying to improve and as long as I keep enjoying it, I’ll just keep working hard, improving and playing football.”

Trafford's family were a big influence in his journey into football, with his dad especially sure his position should be in net.

“I had two older cousins, my sister could kick a ball, dad liked to kick it with his wellies on and I just got chucked in net because I was the youngest.

“I always wanted to be an outfielder and then my dad always told me I was going to be a goalie even though he knew nothing about footy. I just went to training one day, the goalie was ill, I went in net one day and did well. I enjoyed it and for as long as I enjoyed it, I just kept going in net.”

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This journey led him to the Premier League where he has started every league game for the Clarets, who he joined at the beginning of the campaign under Manager Vincent Kompany. So, did their paths cross at their former club?

“No, the year when I went with the first team it was a year or two after he left but I remember, I don’t know if he did his coaching badges, or he started to do coaching. This would have been eight years ago maybe. I remember he did a session for our age.

“Then just watching him play, seeing how good he was, everyone saw how good he was as a player and it’s just weird to now be managed by him. Someone that I looked up to as a player, for his mentality and everything. Now getting coached by him and seeing him every day is really good.”

Back in Lancashire, Trafford and his teammates have battled hard so far this season and he is sure that they can grab the opportunity to pick up valuable points as the campaign progresses.

“We’re only halfway through the season, there’s a lot of points still to pick up and I think it’s five between us and Everton, six between us and Forest. But just sticking to our process, believing in ourselves, not getting influenced by every single person writing us off and just believing in getting better every day. We can get better; we can get points. If you take every five games, we’ve got a lot more points over the last five games than probably the previous five games, so it’s a sign that we’re getting better.

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“We beat Sheffield, drew with Brighton, we beat Fulham and then obviously Liverpool’s a tough game, but we were in the game, we had moments, and we didn’t make the most of those moments. So, we’ll go to Villa on Saturday and give that our best go, believe we can win. Then we’ve got the FA Cup and Luton, then we’ve got a break to really reset and give it a really good go.”

On this Saturday's test, Trafford is under no illusion of the strong form Unai Emery's side are in, however it's not a factor he's going to let influence his preparation.

“Every game in the Premier League is tough, they’re an incredibly well coached team, they’ve got some brilliant players but it’s no different to every other game. Every team’s brilliant on transition, every team’s organised so it’s just like any other game really. They’re doing really well, we saw, we played them I think it was second game of the season, and we knew from then they’re going to be a very good team this season and they’ve shown it.”