Ben Williams - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 03 June 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Ben Williams
United goalkeeper Ben Williams spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Monday morning about his recent return to the side after the end of Tim Krul's loan spell, Williams discussing his feelings about being dropped :


" I am not going to lie, it is tough, you have to prepare yourself for being dropped. At the end of the day it is a squad game and the manager's decision is the final decision if you play or you don't. So you have to, when you get the opportunity to play, take the bull by the horns and do as well as you can.

" It is a case really of just getting on with it, you just knuckle down, train as hard as you can and at the end of the day just have faith in your own ability that you will come through this sort of patch. If it is a dip in form or whatever it is then you are going to get your chance and when you do get your chance you have got to be ready for it.

" You have got to be a bit nuts to be a goalkeeper, I am starting to find that out about myself. It is just one of those things, it is something that you come to live with as a goalkeeper. In this country particularly I think that the natural reaction and emphasis when a goal goes in is to look at the goalkeeper first.

" I find that and to be honest I find myself doing that as a player, even when I watch goals go in I think about what the goalkeeper could have done there. It is just natural I suppose, it is a little bit harsh and a little bit false sometimes. Obviously with things like the Premier League people have benefits of replays and they can see what goes on. Obviously when you are watching live you get one look and that is it, you make your decision there and then.

" I dare say that I have come in for a bit of stick that people have seen again and thought that it might not actually have been my fault. You have to get on with it though, you have to deal with it, I accept that. If you are willing to accept the times when you keep a clean sheet, a couple of saves and people giving you the pat on the back then you have to accept that if you do make a mistake then you are going to get told so. "



" Following Keiren Westwood doesn't concern me one bit to be honest, Keiren was a good goalkeeper. I suppose it is more the fact that the time he spent here and the success that Carlisle had while he was here, coming up, the promotions, and that sort of thing and just missing out on the play-offs. Undoubtedly Keiren did well and will go on to do well even more, but I am my own man, I am my own goalkeeper and I have to set my own targets that unfortunately haven't been met this season.

" It is one of those things, I am sure that someone at Crewe is getting asked the same thing about me, is it a case of following me and pressures and all that sort of stuff. You just have to get on with it though and you have to set your own standard as a player. Obviously looking back I would have liked a little bit more time in the team to rectify any sort of mistakes or dip in form that I would have had.

" Unfortunately I didn't get that run, Ben (Alnwick) came in and the performances in the team didn't really improve. I think that it went to show that it wasn't just the goalkeeper and it was a team collective that we needed to put right, and I think that now we definitely have done. I have definitely got something to prove, probably more than I did when I first came in the summer.

" Because people have seen me play and people have seen me play well and people have seen me have bad games. People make their judgements on that, they are not just judging you as a new player so the pressure is on to do well. To fight for your place, keep your place and to convince the manager and obviously the fans and the other players that you more than warrant your position, and that is the position that you want to keep for as long as you can. "



" It is the same as most positions, you do the first few things right and it sets your standard for the game, it sets your standard for the training session or for whatever you are doing. Once you know that you can trust your fellow player it makes your job a hell of a lot easier. If the back four know that they can trust me and I know that I can trust them then it builds confidence through the whole team.

" I will be looking forward to Stockport to be fair, I think that to be honest I will be looking forward to Stockport because obviously it is the local team to where I am from, but just to rectify the 3-0 defeat that we got down there. Obviously I missed it when Ben was playing but if you ask any footballer, if you get beat well like we did quite easily, we were sort of turned over, people want to rectify that straight away. I know that the lads in there will want to get on the pitch and see what we can do.

" To be fair I know their goalkeeper quite well, Owain (Fon-Williams), I worked with him at Crewe. When I was a kid though I grew up around Stockport so I have got a few good friends who are Stockport County fans and that so it will be good.

" The focus though really won't be getting one over on them, it will be getting one over on the team that beat us 3-0 and getting us up further in the league, and away from any hint of trouble. Because people say that you are too good to go down but I would never say that, but I think that we are too good to be in a position where we should be looking over our shoulder as opposed to looking ahead. "



" It was a big three points on Saturday and you can see how tight the league is. If we go on a decent run, which we are more than capable of, a few more clean sheets and a few wins then who knows where you pick up. It defines your season, you don't want to finish lower table, you want to finish as high as possible.

" Obviously your first target as a goalkeeper when you start your season is to set out your clean sheets and what you would like to keep clean sheet-wise, obviously missing two months of the season disrupts that. I think that when I first came here people were saying that Keiren had kept 17 or 18 clean sheets last year. That was at Carlisle and you finished third in the league, I was saying that I kept 13 and that was at Crewe and we were struggling. So it is something that I was capable of and I wanted to match that at least from last season and better that if I could.

" To be honest changing the back four around doesn't really affect you that much because obviously you are training with those people day in and day out. When you are training you have got your times when you have got your set team or it is just squad games, so you are always playing with a mix of people. I suppose that when it comes to the game though then it is nice to have your set back four, goalkeeper and you build your unit then of you know everyone's strengths, weaknesses and what they are going to do.

" I think that I would have to be a stronger character for being dropped and coming back. Because I think that the way that it was, what was written, what was said, I think that if you weren't a strong character then you would probably crumble and I probably wouldn't be sat here now. So you have to be a strong character and you have to take it is a learning curve and take it on the chin. You have to take all criticism on the chin whoever it is from, whether it is warranted or not. You have to accept it and get on with it and deal with it and prove those people wrong. "