United manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 4-0 League One defeat away to Leyton Orient, Kavanagh saying the O's were the better side on the day:
JP
What are your thoughts on today?
GK
It wasn’t good enough, the better side beat us on the day. Disappointed, I thought we played particularly well first-half in the sense that we contained them for 40 minutes and then gave away a sloppy goal before half-time which is the worst time to concede, and then straight away after half-time. So, you could see that confidence and morale trained after that.
JP
They are clearly a very good side but what do you think went wrong for Carlisle from your point of view?
GK
We didn’t defend well enough, I mean they are a good side who work extremely hard for each other. I think they are a team that has been put together over four years, I think all our frailties from the start of the season were shown today in the manner in which we lost and the size of the defeat. So, yeah, it is back to the drawing board again, as it has been for this team a number of times over the course of the season. So, it is a case of re-evaluating and reassessing this week and getting back to the basics.
JP
Is it even more disappointing today coming after the Sunderland game and a lot of players saying we want to perform at that high level every week and we should be able to do it in every game and not just pick and choose?
GK
Yeah, but words are cheap.
JP
Do you think a few people have sort of shown with their performance then rather than words today?
GK
Well, I think it is amazing how we can perform against a Premier League team last week with the intensity and intelligence that we did have and create the opportunities that we had. Then we come up against a very well organised Leyton Orient team who are playing well and are full of confidence at home and just not be able to cope.
I thought they were the better side, certainly in the second-half, and I thought we became so ragged and so expansive out of possession, which kills us because confidence then becomes a factor in the game. Players then become less confident in possession of the ball so they make the wrong choices, and all-in-all it is just a very poor defeat for us.
JP
What can you do now then this week to try to make sure you get the right performance and result next time out?
GK
Well, we will get back in tomorrow, we will work extremely hard, we will identify where we feel were the key areas that caused us the biggest problems. We will work extremely hard and put it to bed, it has gone now, there is very little we can do. We have got a second half of the season to contend with, we have got to get 54 points as quickly as we can, stay in the league and re-evaluate it in the summer.
JP
What does it come down to in terms of what you can do with the players, do you start to think about changing personnel as you are in this transfer window, does that become the priority or do you think you can coach into them the things that you need to get right?
GK
I have got to coach it into them, I mean we haven’t got the money to go and spend it on loads of players, and I don’t think bringing loads of players in at this time of year is the right answer either. Because, I think it can affect morale in the group and also generally they will be loan players and you don’t know what their attitude is going to be like because they are putting themselves in the shop window.
So, I think we have got to go back to basics, I think we have got to literally walk them through coaching sessions again, back to baby steps whereby we literally do the basics of defending, defending narrow, being aggressive in the way we approach the ball. We have got to look to be a threat at the other end of the pitch which we weren’t for long periods of today’s game. I understand that being the case, certainly second-half, because we got rocked with the two goals.
But, I put Courtney Meppen-Walter on for the third goal and told him to go up against a centre-forward, I told him not to let him turn and everything I told him he didn’t do. Now, Courtney is learning the game, but as I said to him in there it is about time that we stop actually talking about stuff and we actually start delivering, and that is for a number of players.
So, I am very disappointed today but credit to Leyton Orient, I think they are a very good team, I think they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. I think it shows the strength in depth that they have when they can lose David Mooney, Romain Vincelot and Shaun Batt and replace them with the quality they have. So, hats off to them and congratulations to them today, I thought they played very well.
JP
An overall goal difference only second to Manchester City in all of English football, they are going to score goals but it is the manner in which they got them which I am sure will be on your mind?
GK
Well, I think the manner in which you concede any goals is always disappointing but he [Scott Cuthbert] gets a run on Sean O’Hanlon for the first goal. I was concerned with it because I knew they were a bigger team than us, but then you can’t always combat that so I was hoping that our aggression towards the ball would give us enough to compete, and I thought we did up to the first 42 or 43 minutes. That one goal settles them down at home, you can see the fans get into it, so that is disappointing.
Then in the second-half we come out and I told them to be patient and be aggressive when we have to defend, and if we don’t then we just drop off and we deny them space in terms of where they are going play in front of us, and if they do play in front of us then they always have to go wide. But, we became disjointed, they played between the lines, they got in behind us and their energy and their understanding of the formation they were playing was a key factor in causing us huge problems.
JP
Is there much you can do as a manager, I know you are relatively new to it, with the players and they are going out there and they are not doing what you have talked about or even what they have talked about in terms of replicating that level of performance. Can you do so much from this technical area we are stood in?
GK
I think you can effect probably the players on this side of the pitch, I think the players on the far side of the pitch it is difficult to. You bark orders at them but players will have a different level of understanding within the shape of the game. But, that is why I think all week when you work Monday to Friday on tactics, on eleven v eleven, on different scenarios and different formations that they understand.
We have always said when we play that I want people up against people being aggressive. We don’t let people turn, we don’t let people run at us, we deny the balls into feet and we certainly don’t let people turn. It is always a case that they can feel a presence, whether it be physical or them just hearing and understanding that you are right behind them.
They can generally lay the ball off, but what I thought they did particularly well today was they got on the half turn and they weren’t afraid of us. Kevin Lisbie in particular was exceptional and Moses Odubajo is extremely quick, Dean Cox on the far side has got great delivery and very good cleverness. I suppose the biggest area was the two boys in the middle of the pitch who dominated our three. So, that was a big factor, if you lose the middle of the pitch then you are always vulnerable to losing a game.
JP
And I mean at the stage you brought Courtney on it had come to damage limitation and I am sure you will not have enjoyed having to do that?
GK
No, it was 3-0 and I didn’t want it to go 4-0, but that is exactly what did happen. So, are there reasons for it, I think there are, am I going to tolerate it? No, I am not. I am going to try to put it right, most definitely I am, but I need the players to be diligent in the information that we give them and really trust.
Because, the periods where we have been successful this season, they have bought into the closing down, the togetherness as a team, narrow off our shape and it is all pretty basic stuff to be honest. But, when we become individual players we are nowhere near as effective, we haven’t got the better players in the league and that is why we are where we are in the table. So, it is important that we understand each other’s job, but more importantly understand your own job.
JP
We will talk more broadly in the week I am sure about the way forward, but there are a few fans a bit concerned that we are slipping towards that bottom few now, are you confident you will be able to pull all the right things together?
GK
Listen, I am concerned, I don’t like to see it, I think there have been two or three times in my reign already that we have had the opportunity to jump into that top half of the table and for whatever reason we have either not been able to or we have been afraid to take the next step. That certainly doesn’t come from the message from the staff, the players have to have the same intensity, whether it is Sunderland, Leyton Orient or Shrewsbury or Oldham.
It doesn’t matter who it is, every single game we have got to have that intensity. We speak about that, the mentality, the drive. We will address it but at some stage they have got to take ownership of it and when we are successful it will because of them. That is what I want them to believe so we will put it to bed today, there is very little we can do about it now other than feel despondent. But, come tomorrow I will have a plan of action of what we are going to do this week and we will implement it and be ready for Saturday.
JP
I would like to end on a couple of positives, Greg Fleming’s first professional start in the league and you must have been happy with large parts of his display, and also once again close to 500 Carlisle fans coming here to support you today?
GK
Yeah, but that is even more disappointing you know, they are paying hard money and good money to come and watch us and we need to be giving them more than that. Disappointed for them, I apologise for the performance and the goals we conceded. But, in terms of Greg he has been a credit to himself and his profession, he has not complained once when he has been left out of the team.
He has been extremely professional in the way he has trained and he has pushed himself to be better. I thought he played particularly well today, he made some very good saves, but he has conceded four goals which the ten players in front of him have got to look and feel slightly guilty for that. But, as I say, we will put it down today to a bad day at the office but we can’t have too many more of them.
JP
With that silver lining then do you almost need to not perhaps look for another loan goalkeeper this time?
GK
It is too early to say, too early to say. I want to re-evaluate what we are going to with the group this week, see what happens, see if anybody comes in for our players, see what is available, see what money we have available and see what areas when I sit down with the staff that we want to try to address. So, there is a lot to work on this week.