Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 04 August 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips after today's open training session at Brunton Park, Abbott later in the interview fielding questions from the News and Star's Jon Colman and official site's Andy Hall :


" I have enjoyed the training session, it is nice to see some of the fans in and the young kids, it means a lot to them does their local football team, they are our supporters and I hope that they have enjoyed it. It is a working day for us but it is nice to see the kids with smiles on their faces and they are all having a bit of fun now meeting the players and talking to the players.

" We are as ready as we are going to be for the season, it is countdown now, we come back on Thursday. Obviously the players will have a rest tomorrow, I think that it is the second day off that they have had in seven weeks, so they have worked exceptionally hard. We have got to make sure that we put all that hard work into practice come the weekend.

" The intensity will ease off a little bit now, we will step up our shape work, we will step up our set-play work and work on our opposition. We have got all the information in on Brentford that we need now so we will look at that on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully we will get it all right and the boys in the right frame of mind to get the season off to a really good start.

" I am hoping for an improvement, we have got to get off to a good start, I can't wait for Saturday. The boys can't wait for Saturday either, they have done all their running, they have done all their physical stuff, they have done all the technical stuff now. We have done our team-shape and we do more of that as the week goes on, and we are all ready for the weekend. The pre-season is a long drawn out affair, the boys just want to play games and competitive games at that. "



" At the moment we are still looking for a striker. I am not going to set any timescales because we are building people's hopes up. What we have got to do out of respect to the players that we have got is that we have got three strikers in and at the minute they are the three strikers we work with. It is a common fact that I am looking at others but there will be no timescale to that.

" We are hoping just to get the best possible deal on Danny Graham's tribunal to look after this football club. We just go there and we put our case forward and hopefully the panel see fit to give us what we think Danny was worth. It is not ideal me having to go but I am leaving the players with Dennis (Booth) and Kav (Graham Kavanagh) in very capable hands. That is what they are there for so I don't foresee any problems.

" I have set out what I want to happen on Thursday, Kav knows and Dennis knows exactly what training session I want. They know the tempo of what I want to do and how I want to do it and they will carry that out no problem. Then as soon as I have finished this tribunal I will be on the phone to see how they have all done and to make sure that there are no injuries. We can crack on then on Friday and I can't wait to get stuck into them on Friday and let's go.

" I don't know the situation on Simon Lakeland because I have only just come off the field myself. We will have a look at though, I think that he has gone for a precautionary X-ray. He twisted his knee, there was nobody near him and he just twisted his knee. Hopefully he is not too bad but at the minute I don't know anything about that situation, but it is something that I will need to chase up in the next few minutes.

" The squad is in good shape though, injuries can occur anywhere, in a friendly, in a training match, in a competitive match. He has got his studs caught in the grass and turned his knee with nobody near him. So again it is the most innocuous injury, sometimes they can be quite serious but hopefully it is not too bad, we will have a look at that as the day goes on and I will find out what he has done. "



" We scored three goals on Saturday so I have got every confidence in them in terms of if they are only as good as last their game. We have got three strikers that scored three goals on Saturday so that is the positive way of looking at it. I would hope that they can keep scoring, it is what they get paid for, so I would hope that your strikers would score.

" They got three on Saturday though and they looked really sharp, you have just seen the session there and Joe Anyinsah has looked a massive handful and Scott Dobie has caused all sorts of problems. So we have got three at the minute, everybody knows that we are trying to bring another one in but at the minute we have got three terrific strikers.

" Everybody at this stage last season was saying that Gary Madine needs a chance, so if we brought another striker in before Saturday then Gary Madine might not get that chance. So we can't please everybody all the time, we are looking for that striker though and we will continue to do so. All the players have always got a chance to prove something but I will tell you on Saturday at 4.45pm whether I am happy or not.

" I think that Saturday it is on the downside for him (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) to start. I would hope to get him around the team, he can come on and create that little bit of magic to get us a goal from somewhere. I think that he has missed a lot at the end of last season though and enough of this pre-season to say that he is a little bit behind other players in terms of his overall fitness.

" So it is one that we will look at and see how he comes out, at least he has trained today and it gives him the chance on Thursday and Friday to have another bit of a hit. So we will have a look at Bridgey on Thursday and Friday. Everybody else is in contention, you have seen what condition they are in, they are in good shape physically. They are fit and they are ready to go, I want to see a real high determination and a high tempo on Thursday and Friday. I want to see them get ready for war because it starts on Saturday. "



" I am relatively close to knowing my first eleven now into what is going to get a chance on Saturday. I am not saying that it will be the same team at the end of the month, injuries, suspensions, loss of form, results - it will all dictate that. I have not got a set eleven for a period, what I want to do is to give an opportunity to the eleven that start that I think have deserved it. Others might count themselves a little bit unlucky, whatever, but you can only pick eleven and hopefully they will go and do the job on Saturday.

" I remember our first game in this league against Doncaster when they were a really strong side and we beat them 1-0 here. They didn't fancy coming and we were right up for it and you have got a lot of energy flying through your ranks. So that is the key against Brentford, we have to stop their enthusiasm and their energy and their high spirits at the moment, and then stamp our own authority onto the game.

" If we can keep creating a Millwall atmosphere every week here then we are going to be a far better team. The positivity that was flying round and the energy that the fans provided and the support that the fans provided, if we can get that right from day one and get off to a good start then they can be an awesome help. We have got to just fill the ground with positivity I think and make sure that we try to get off to this good start that everybody is looking for.

" I think that Matty (Robson) is one of them, he is going to come in at the far-post and get goals. He does tuck in a little bit earlier than Cleve (Cleveland Taylor). Cleve is sometimes stuck on the outside and getting his crosses in and is a provider more than a scorer. We want him to get on the end of crosses from the other wing though and sometimes you can get some cheap goals just sliding in and tapping them in unmarked because you get inside your full-back.

" It is not as if you have got to beat a 6'3 centre-half to head the ball in. So we are encouraging our wide players to get into the box and contribute to the goals tally. Obviously we want goals from all over the pitch but we would hope that our front four, or top four, did that for us this season. "