Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 23 February 2010 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) at Monday morning's press conference for the local media, Abbott first looking back on Saturday's disappointing 2-0 defeat at Swindon :


JP

How are you feeling after the weekend?

GA

Alright.

JP

How do you feel about the game after the weekend?

GA

Alright now.

JP

What are your reflections on the game at the weekend?

GA

I was disappointed like I told you on Saturday. But that is what I have to do as a manager, you have to dust yourself down, come in bright and breezy and try to do something about it.

JP

What do you take out of the game? What do you look back on and think that is what we can learn from, these are the primary things from the game?

GA

We can take out quite a few things, we can take good and bad out of everything, we have done that and we crack on tomorrow.

JP

What are the things you are looking to learn though from the game in terms of going into this game against Hartlepool?

GA

That we need to be tougher and we need to have a real determination to our play.

JP

And how will you be working on that? How will you be looking to implement that? What are you going to do differently I guess to make sure you get that?

GA

We are not going to do anything differently than we have been doing over the last 15 to 20 games. What we are going to do is put the better bits of that last 15 to 20 games into practice tomorrow, and roll our sleeves up and fight.





JP

What do you expect from Hartlepool? They are a team who are absolutely desperate for points right above that drop zone. They are going to certainly want to give you a big test at Victoria Park.

GA

Look at the situation that we were in last season, which was similar to Hartlepool at the time. I think when teams came at us and put us on the back foot and rocked us and got a goal and put us under a lot of pressure, especially at home when the crowd are expectant and the crowd are wanting results.

I think we have got to try to apply that sort of pressure at Hartlepool tomorrow. We have got to take the game to Hartlepool tomorrow and put them under a serious amount of pressure, not feel sorry for them and come away with a result.

JP

Going into it you are I guess trying to avoid being dragged into that sort of situation. Six points clear of the relegation zone, it is almost not an issue yet but it will be at the back of your mind will it that quickly you can drop it into it if you do fail to win there?

GA

It is not an issue at the minute, it is not what I am talking about with the players at the minute. I am talking about in the last 15 or 20 games that we have had some really good results and put ourselves in a decent position in the table.

There are a lot of clubs worse off than us but you know that if you don't find results and you don't find them quick then you can get dropped in because it is a tight division this year. But I am not talking about anything like that at the moment, I am talking in a real positive frame of mind and a real determined frame of mind.

JP

What in particular do you expect from Hartlepool in the game on Tuesday night?

GA

That they are fighting for their lives because they are in a poor position and they need points.

JP

What sort of approach do you expect from them though? How will you look to counter what they throw at you at their home ground in front of an expectant crowd?

GA

I think they will have a right go at us, I think they will be nervous, they will have pressure on them, we have got to make sure that we take the game to them.





JP

After two performances where you have said yourself that you didn't make it hard enough to be beaten, what will you be hoping different from your players? Just from them rather than what you were telling them, what do you need to see from them?

GA

I will be hoping that we do what we have been doing over the last 15 to 20 games when we have had some really, really good results. The form table over that period would be not bad. But we need to be doing what we have been doing when we were winning games in those games and that is what I will be asking the players for tomorrow night.

JP

Is it on your mind that you might need to shake things up a little bit with some of the players just to let them know that there is competition for places? Is that the sort of thing that comes into your mind when you have had a couple of results that could have gone differently for you?

GA

When you have two negative results in football you have a lot of things on your mind, and that is one of the things that is on my mind. You look at a lot of things and you think about how you put it right or put that right when the truer reflection is there is not a great deal wrong. Because over 15 to 20 games that is when you have got to look at what has been happening and it has been OK.

But you think about lots of things and then when you come into your work and you have had the Sunday to digest it all and think about every case scenario. Then you put your best thoughts into practice on Monday and come up with a plan that will be right for tomorrow night and that is what I have done.





JP

When you talk about needing a bit more fight in the team, needing maybe to kick teams around a little bit to try to impose yourself on them. Is Tom Taiwo the sort of player who can come in and effect you? It is a very vogue issue with the fans at the moment.

GA

We have got a good squad and I will select from that squad, and everybody comes into that situation, and that is what I will be doing.

JP

I understand that but it is a key issue with the fans, we are getting a lot of correspondence from fans who are saying - why isn't he in the team at the moment? Is it just purely down to selection? It just seems like he was such an important of the team before his absence from it.

GA

I am going to select from the 18 players that I have got available tomorrow and I am going to try to select the team that is going to win the game tomorrow.

JP

I am going to have to press you a little bit more, one fan in particular e-mailed to say that in the eight games before he came out of the team you won four of them and conceded just six goals. Then while he has been out you have lost four, you have only won I think twice and have conceded 16 goals. Do you see these things as directly linked as clearly the fans do?

GA

Like I said, I am going to pick the team tomorrow the best I can, I am going to pick a team that I think is going to win the game and I will pick what I consider is the right team. If you are pulling me on Tom Taiwo as an individual then he has come in and he has had a lot of football, he has done ever so well and the team has done well.

He is going to be a big player for this football club, I have got to make sure that we don't instigate a debate and a divide between everybody to say that he should and he shouldn't, or this shouldn't and that shouldn't. What I am saying to you is that he has got a big part to play in this football club and when I think the time is right to play Tom then I will play him.





JP

OK, what is the injury situation like going into the game?

GA

We are fine.

JP

Everyone is fit and ready to go in? What is the situation with Richard Offiong then, I think it said on Andy (Hall's) Twitter site that he had picked up a slight injury ahead of the game?

GA

Yeah, he has got a slight ankle injury and he will be rested up for a couple of days but I think by the end of the week he should be fine.

JP

But he is not considered in the squad then for Tuesday night?

GA

No.

JP

And just in terms of the fans, you have had good travelling away support in recent away matches. How important can they be in a game when everyone really needs something out of this?

GA

The fans have been fantastic, they are top of the league at the minute. They are up there with the best, they have been brilliant, the distances that they have to travel and the amount of support we are getting is fantastic.

They have got something to look forward to which gives them a little bit of extra buzz to what they are doing. But they have been fantastic and we want to get back on winning ways for them as quick as we can.

JP

This is also somewhat of a local derby for Carlisle United, believe it or not with the distances between the two sides, but it should be a great occasion irrespective of what both clubs need on the pitch. How excited are you and the players about taking on one of these sides?

GA

I think the excitement of going to Hartlepool is not the right word, we are going to Hartlepool with a determination to win the game is more the key.



To listen to the interview click : here