Rotherham United midfielder Shaun MacDonald insists that the players are determined do their manager proud, ahead of their trip to Carrow Road to take on Sky Bet Championship leaders Norwich City.
Paul Warne has made no secret of the special relevance the fixture in Norfolk has for him, as he visits the home of his boyhood club.
And while MacDonald stressed that he and his teammates are always motivated, regardless of opposition, he admitted there is an extra incentive ahead of the clash with the Canaries.
“We know this is an important game for the gaffer, we’re always motivated whoever we play, but we want to do him proud.”
“Form, performances and results give you confidence no matter what. We were unlucky in the home game against Norwich earlier in the season, we performed really well on the day.
“Unfortunately we went down to 10 men and ended up losing the game late on. We only every look ahead and where we can finish in the table, rather than looking what is below us.
“We’ve got a tough game coming up, we know that, but as I’ve said on many occasions, every game in the Championship is a tough one.”
The Millers will embark on their second long-haul trip of the week when they travel to face Daniel Farke’s side, following a midweek game on the South Coast against AFC Bournemouth last Wednesday.
The Welshmen made no secret of how tough the fixture schedule has been, but believes the strength in depth in the Millers ranks has been crucial in helping them negotiate their way through it.
“The one thing I think we’ve got this year is strength in depth and competion for places, which has helped us.
“It has been a difficult season in terms of the volume of games and for a lot the season we have been playing three games a week.
“This is a great league with some big teams who have massive budgets, I feel we’ve got a togetherness and a work rate that is really unique here.
“Since we’ve switched to the 3-5-2 formation I think we’ve done really well. I enjoy playing in that system, but it’s not about what suits me personally, it’s about how well the team is doing and picking up as many points as we can."
“I feel like we’ve done that. We’ve looked defensively strong and look like we can score goals, so as a team it has been working extremely well, hopefully we can continue that.”