United media officer and kit manager Andy Hall (AH) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) this afternoon ahead of Carlisle's League One match away to Yeovil, Hall first talking about Lubomir Michalik returning from international duty with Slovakia with a knee injury :
JP
A bit of a blow already for the Cumbrians today, big Lubo has come back from Slovakia with a knock that rules him out?
AH
Yeah, we knew about it yesterday obviously when he joined us from his flight back from Ireland into Birmingham. He pulled his trouser leg up and everybody looked at it and thought oooh that is nasty, a couple of staples, I had never seen those before and they were still in situe, they had been rammed into his knee to keep the cut together. It is just the swelling, if the swelling wasn't there he would be able to strap it up and play, but unfortunately the swelling rules him out. So, it is one of those where you have got Danny Livesey who has already been in there, unchanged back four, so there is no real harm done other than you would like to have the lad back.
JP
Yeah, and it allows Greg (Abbott) obviously to name an unchanged team, so a bit of continuity there?
AH
Absolutely that yeah, and sometimes that is just what you need isn't it. We are on a fairly decent run after that horrible September, we just want to keep that going now really, with the football we have been playing at times has been really good. The last home game was encouraging for everybody, and if we can get something from a place where we never get anything, I think we have had one draw haven't we in all the years we have been here, that would be really nice and just sort of set the tone for that busy into Christmas type period.
JP
I know a few of the fans have been talking about it and you have been responding to it on twitter, the hoodoo with Huish Park, what is it about this place that Carlisle, and it is generations of teams, it is not like it is the same players coming down each time, it just seems to always crop up as a place that United don't travel to well?
AH
We keep quizzing the managers that we have about it, why does it happen at certain grounds? The Bescot, this place, you come to them and you don't get anything, it doesn't matter how well the team is playing at the time, what the form is like, is it coincidence? I don't know, can it be coincidence the fact that it goes on year after year? I really don't know, you just want to put it away because the more that people talk about it the more it does sit on your shoulder when you do come down to these places. So, if we can get it out of the way and get a good performance and a result then we can stop asking the question.
JP
What has Greg Abbott been saying to the players then? Has he mentioned the hoodoo or has he just treated it like just any other game?
AH
No, he is always the same, I think Paul Newton might have asked him about it at the press conference on Wednesday and he said that he genuinely believed that it was coincidence because like you say, it is not the same players who come here year on year. It is just the fact that you do come to the place and go away with nothing to show for it. We just need to put it right, play the game the way we can, work hard for each other, close the spaces because if they win the physical battle they will find a lot of space in their favour. If we can close that down and do the job properly we will be OK.
JP
And on the face of it, just looking out at Huish Park here today, it is a gorgeous day, the sun really is out, I bet it is out there in the sun. Some of us around us. Derek Mountfield mentioning that name, wearing coats in the shade here, I am not sure it is quite that cold, but it is baking hot, beautiful, great surface, I mean it should be all set up for them?
AH
Yeah, we like to play football but we have got to earn the right haven't you. I think they like to play football as well from what we have seen of them, Terry Skiverton is doing a grand job down here on not massive resources. It is a tight ground, if the fans are up as we saw last year they are very difficult to get them down again, and in some ways it was the fans who saw them through with the momentum that they gave with the voices behind them. So, we have to cope with all of that with these small grounds and the way they are, we have to come here and do our job and that is all we can ask the players to do.
JP
It is starting to develop a theme that United do well when they take the lead, they have not lost in a game when they have taken the lead this season, if they can get that first goal they seem to be able to cling onto it, but it is making sure that the Cumbrians go ahead that seems to be the thing that has troubled them?
AH
Yeah, it is a great stat as well isn't it, because we were badgering the manager earlier on in the season about the fact that we couldn't score in the first-half. So, once we got that one out of the way we saw that once we are in the lead we are a very difficult team to break down. So, yeah, you are right, and goals change games, if you get the first one it can really kick things on, and if you don't get the first one it can really dampen you and put you on your backside. We saw that at Chesterfield where Leon Clarke destroyed us and it was an early goal that took the wind out of the sails so it is important you start these games properly.
JP
Just finally, it is always difficult managing interests within a squad game isn't it in football, Francois Zoko has been out of the starting line up for a little while now, how is he getting on with things? It is difficult to know isn't it, I watched him this morning at the team hotel watching the rugby and supporting France against Wales and he walked away when the ball was turned over when Wales were looking for the drop goal opportunity and tapped me on the shoulder and said 'it is in ze bag', but he was happy enough with that but I can't imagine he is too happy being out of the line-up at the moment?
AH
No, I don't think any player, you wouldn't want them to be, you want them to be saying to the manager that they are ready and want to play. But, we have seen with his attitude when he comes off the bench and how he has actually helped to change games in some situations. But, he is right, he knows that the manager is going to pick the team on the day that he thinks will do the job, if you are not in that eleven, yeah you are going to sit there and feel pretty annoyed about it, but show your annoyance by getting on the pitch the way he has been, do the job the way he has been and then in the end you leave the manager no choice and you are back in the eleven.