Karl Robinson Talks Ahead Of The Game

Last updated : 12 February 2010 By Thetashkentterror

Karl Robinson
MK Dons assistant manager Karl Robinson spoke to BBC Three Counties Radio and his club's official website ahead of his side's League One match against Carlisle at Brunton Park tomorrow, Robinson looking some more consistency from his players :



" Away consistency gets bandied around even with us and the players and the fans, but we are never going to get that if we keep being as unlucky as we have been this year with injuries.

" But we need to come out of the other side and we have got a really important game, the way the fixture list is this weekend Swindon have to go to Huddersfield and there are some really tough games. So if we go to Carlisle and we perform and we get the three points it will really do our play-off chances good.

" With Andros (Townsend) back and the likes of Luke Chadwick, Peter Leven, Stephen Gleeson, Aaron Wilbraham - we've got enough quality in our side to go anywhere and get a victory. We just hope enough players perform to the level we expect and, if we do, I'm sure we can get a result.

" Momentum is a massive thing in football and Carlisle will have plenty of that after their win over Leeds in midweek. We've just got to go there, be professional and play the football we know we can play. The pitch looks really well, we've got no excuse with that, so if we utilise the one-v-ones we'll have the players to do the damage.

" You have to have a game plan, because you can't always rely on something working off the cuff when players aren't used to playing together. You haven't got the personnel to do that. We started at Southampton with a 4-4-2, but without our regular back four we were far too deep. We changed the system to press them higher up the pitch and once we did that we had the upper hand. "



" James Tunnicliffe is a really good player, he was one two years ago we looked at when he was at Stockport. Then again I believe that Roberto (Di Matteo) was really pushing to get him and he lost the opportunity to get him because I believe he was persuaded more by the Brighton offer than he was here. I am sure if he comes here and does a job then he will tighten up our back four and if he does well who knows what might be round any corner.

" He is a young lad, 20 years of age, 6'4, and he can run and play. He has got all the credentials to be a real good centre-half and I hope the time he spends here he helps our promotion push. He could have gone to four or five sides within our league but the problem is with that they were all in and around the Brighton sort of relegation zone. Brighton thought by sending him to us he will help us beat the teams that they are fighting with and he will help us get into the play-offs.

" He has got a long throw-in so maybe the fans will have another one to cheer on during the game as they do with Jude (Stirling). But in the modern game it is a real threat, So it is a real important part of the game because when you are really deep it enables you to go up the pitch really quickly from a thrown-in area.

" But also when you are in the final third you constantly put a team under pressure and you can see from Jude's throw-ins there are absolute chaos. Granted we haven't scored many goals but you very rarely get a throw-in and a header. You get a throw-in, somebody wins it and if you win the second ball in the penalty box then nine times out of ten you are going to get a chance at goal. "



" That is what it does, it causes confusion, we need to make sure we work, and we do work on it, if we can get the second balls then we can pick them up and finish them off. So I am not saying we are going to be like the Alamo but it is a different thing to try. Stoke have been extremely successful by using it so it is not one you should ever dismiss.

" We are getting the coach again, we are just clocking up our miles on the motorway. It was 200 and odd miles to Stockport and back, 150-odd miles to Southampton and then back again, and 350 or 400 miles to Carlisle. So it is one that we needed to really make sure we did the right recovery after Tuesday because we have done a lot of travelling.

" They have been tough games, the Stockport one took an awful lot out of us and you can see from the injuries that it hit us. Then in the game on Tuesday night I thought the lads gave everything. Paul Ince highlighted at the end of the game that you couldn't ask for any more.

" If people go out there and they put the shirt on and they give you 100% effort then that is all you can ever do. But that also takes a big chunk of your energy resources away for the next game. The likes of Peter Leven and Stephen Gleeson, even when Southampton scored their third and were winning the game they were still running and trying to hurry things up. "



" It is another opportunity, the coach company has made an absolute fortune out of this week, so we will train up there on Friday in Preston, again, part of our recovery process and our training regime that we need to train at the right times. So we are going to go up there and do that and then we are going to sit down up there and do some classroom work on Friday night with them and hopefully we can get the result that we are looking for.

" Alex Rae - regardless of how old you get or how tired you get you don't get around the pitch as much but your game intelligence never leaves you. He came on at Southampton and won the first header against Rickie Lambert after we had lost every one despite him being a foot smaller.

" Because he understands how to put people off and understands when to jump and how to jump and that experience costs you a lot of money. Five years ago we wouldn't have been able to afford somebody like Alex Rae but he is somebody that we can rely on late on and go on and do a job.

" I thought when he went on he was different class, he didn't give the ball away, he put it into the corners at the right times and he kept the ball. He strengthens us on the bench, he is an old head who can go on and it is one that we are not going to dismiss, and while he feels that he can still run around then I am sure he will always do a job. "